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Short documentary on the origins of NASA. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created in 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other related organizations, as the result of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s.
The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (Pub. L. 85–568) is the United States federal statute that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Act, which followed close on the heels of the Soviet Union 's launch of Sputnik , was drafted by the United States House Select Committee on Astronautics and Space ...
The vernier engines on the third stage were fired to make up for the thrust deficit, but added only 150 feet per second of velocity, insufficient to escape Earth orbit. As a last resort, ground controllers decided that if they could not get Pioneer 1 to the Moon, they would place it in a high Earth orbit by firing the attached solid rocket motor.
On July 29, 1958, the U.S. Congress officially passed legislation that established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) -- a civilian agency that is responsible for ...
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. Its goal was to put a person into Earth orbit and return them safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962, aboard the Mercury-Atlas 6. [57]
On 17 March 1958, Vanguard 1 became the second artificial satellite successfully placed in a low Earth orbit by the United States. It was the first solar-powered satellite. Just 15.2 cm (6.0 in) in diameter and weighing 1.4 kg (3.1 lb), Vanguard 1 was described by then- Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as, "The grapefruit satellite". [ 3 ]
Known affectionately to scientists as the "boring billion," there was a seemingly endless period in the world's history when the length of a day stayed put.
The spacecraft passed 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) from the solar surface on Dec. 24, flying into the sun's outer atmosphere called the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more ...