Creation of NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 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.
Background
From 1946, the
Transition from NACA to NASA
From late 1957 to early 1958, the already existing National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) began studying what a new non-military space agency would entail, as well as what its role might be, and assigned several committees to review the concept.[3] On January 12, 1958, NACA organized a "Special Committee on Space Technology", headed by Guyford Stever.[3] Stever's committee included consultation from the Army Ballistic Missile Agency's large booster program, referred to as the Working Group on Vehicular Programs. This group was headed by Wernher von Braun,[3] a German scientist who during World War II had developed ballistic missiles such as the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany before being brought to the US in Operation Paperclip.
On January 14, 1958, NACA Director
Launched on January 31, 1958, Explorer 1, officially Satellite 1958 Alpha, became the U.S.'s first Earth satellite.[5] The Explorer 1 payload consisted of the Iowa Cosmic Ray Instrument without a tape data recorder which was not modified in time to make it onto the satellite.
On March 5,
In April 1958, Eisenhower delivered to the U.S. Congress an executive address favoring a national civilian space agency and submitted a bill to create a "National Aeronautical and Space Agency."[3] NACA's former role of research alone would change to include large-scale development, management, and operations.[3] The U.S. Congress passed the bill, somewhat reworded, as the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, on July 16.[3] Only two days later von Braun's Working Group submitted a preliminary report severely criticizing the duplication of efforts and lack of coordination among various organizations assigned to the United States' space programs.[3] Stever's Committee on Space Technology concurred with the criticisms of the von Braun Group (a final draft was published several months later, in October).[3]
On July 29, 1958, Eisenhower signed the
Elements of the
References
- ^ Uri, John (June 12, 2023). "95 years ago: First Human Rocket-Powered Aircraft Flight". NASA. Archived from the original on November 13, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
- ^ Tristan, David (July 29, 2022). "July 29, 1958: National Aeronautics and Space Administration is created". ABC27 WHTM. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 0-16-004259-3. SP-4206. Archivedfrom the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 1-58566-140-6. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 20, 2009.
- ^ Garber, Steve (October 10, 2007). "Explorer-I and Jupiter-C". NASA. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2009.
- ^ a b c "T. Keith Glennan". NASA. August 4, 2006. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved July 15, 2009.
- ^ von Braun, Werner (1963). "Recollections of Childhood: Early Experiences in Rocketry as Told by Werner Von Braun 1963". MSFC History Office. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on August 21, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2009.
- ^ Van Atta, Richard (April 10, 2008). "50 years of Bridging the Gap" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 24, 2009. Retrieved July 15, 2009.