National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) A History

NASA: the beginning Formed by Eisenhower 10/1/58 as a result of Sputnik crisis of confidence –Technological gap –Cold War -> Space race Inherited National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Began working on human space flight immediately NASA in employees $100 million annual budget 3 major research labs (Langley, Ames, Lewis) and: –NRL’s space group –JPL (CalTech) –Army Ballistic Missile Agency

NASA: major initiatives Project Mercury –1961, American space flight –Can humans survive in space? Project Gemini –1965, space walk –Spacecraft built for two Project Apollo 1 –1969, humans on the lunar surface –To the moon! Space Shuttle Program –1981, human space flight returns after 6 years –Regular space flight (Columbia, Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavor) International Space Station (ISS) –Permanent human presence

NASA: major research Aerodynamics Remote-sensing –1972, Landsat program launch –Tracking of crop management, fault line detection, extreme weather Communication satellites Robotics

NASA: political notes 1957: Sputnik –Cold War –Technological gap : Apollo –1961: JFK states that before the decade is out, we will land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth –$25.4 billion spent to get man on the moon Largest non-military technological endeavor ever undertaken by the US government –sdsd 1993: Mars Observer –Spacecraft disappears 3 days before it is to go into orbit –Faster, better, cheaper spacecraft go to Mars Other issues –Financial, administrative and institutional management of the ISS –Science at NASA –Financial management at NASA (Dan Goldin, Sean O’Keefe)

NASA: disasters 1967: Apollo fire –On the ground –3 killed 1986: Challenger explosion –After launch –7 killed 2003: Columbia breaks up –Before landing –7 killed

NASA vs. NIH vs. NSF Budget ( )