NASA History

NASA History
On April 8, 2024, North America will witness its last total solar eclipse for more than twenty years. Other parts of the world will experience the rare celestial event in the coming decade. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, blocking its disk from view but […]
Posted April 4, 2024
NASA History
Project Mercury
On Nov. 5, 1958, NASA, newly established to lead America’s civilian space program, formally established the Space Task Group (STG) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to implement one of the nation’s top priorities – to develop a spacecraft capable of sending humans into space and returning them safely to Earth. In January […]
Posted April 3, 2024
NASA History
STS-107
House Representative Statements The following are some of the statements made by Representatives regarding the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. February 1, 2003: Representative Sherwood Boehlert PRESS RELEASEDate Released: Saturday, February 01, 2003House Science Committee Boehlert Statement on Space Shuttle Columbia Tragedy WASHINGTON, D.C.
Posted March 28, 2024
NASA History
Space Shuttle
On March 24, 1979, space shuttle Columbia arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the very first time. Following Presidential direction to build the space shuttle in 1972, Congress quickly approved and funded the program later that year. Construction of the first orbital vehicle, later named Columbia, began in 1975.
Posted March 22, 2024
NASA History
Apollo
The road to the Moon landing cleared a major hurdle in March 1969 with the flight of Apollo 9 that tested all components of the spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Astronauts James A. McDivitt and Russell L. Schweickart flew the Lunar Module (LM) Spider while David R. Scott awaited their return in the Command Module […]
Posted March 20, 2024
NASA History
On March 8, 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took the first image of Earth from the surface of another planet. The Earth appearing as nothing more than a bright star provided a new perspective on our home planet, a perspective reshaped over the past eight decades as cameras aboard rockets and spacecraft traveled farther […]
Posted March 7, 2024
NASA History
Exoplanets
Kepler / K2
The Kepler mission enabled the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, revealing a deep truth about our place in the cosmos: there are more planets than stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The road to this fundamental change in our understanding of the universe, however, required almost 20 years of persistence before the mission became a […]
Posted March 6, 2024
NASA History
On March 3, 1959, the United States launched Pioneer 4 with the goal of photographing the Moon during a close flyby. As part of the International Geophysical Year that ran from July 1, 1957, to Dec. 31, 1958, the United States planned to send five probes to study the Moon. The first three planned to […]
Posted March 4, 2024
NASA History
“A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women.” – Valentina Tereshkova “If we want scientists and engineers in the future, we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys.” – Sally Ride “International cooperation is very necessary. Chinese have a […]
Posted March 1, 2024
Glenn Research Center
Aeronautics
Armstrong Flight Research Center
NASA History
Supersonic flight became a reality in October 1947, when the Bell X-1 rocket plane broke the sound barrier.
Posted February 22, 2024
Sign up for our newsletter:

Categories

36
3
1
1
1
3
80
3
3
1
5
203
28
6
49
2
27
559
5
4
1
249
20
1
2
3
Io
3
2
1
17
301
1
6
10
4
5
164
1
1
6
1
2
1
42
2
2
1
1
13
3
1
10
7
4
2
2
4
1
1
4
1
188
113
10
16
1
12
1
11
1
6
35
10
2

Recent Posts