What is NASA?

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is the federal agency responsible for the U.S. civilian space program, aeronautics research, and space science. NASA was established in 1958 in the wake of the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite, in October 1957. President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act in July 1958, creating NASA from the existing National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and adding a broader space exploration mission. T. Keith Glennan served as the first NASA Administrator.

NASA's headquarters is in Washington, D.C., and the agency operates major facilities across the country, including the Johnson Space Center in Houston (home to mission control and astronaut training), the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (the main launch facility for human spaceflight), the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama (focused on rocket propulsion), the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland (focused on Earth and space science), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California (operated by Caltech under contract for robotic planetary missions), Ames Research Center in California, and several others. NASA employs about 18,000 civil servants and works with thousands of contractors and university researchers.

NASA's most famous achievements include the Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972 (Apollo 11 made the first landing on July 20, 1969, with Neil Armstrong becoming the first human to walk on the lunar surface), the Space Shuttle program (135 missions from 1981 to 2011), the construction and continuous operation of the International Space Station since 2000, the Hubble Space Telescope (launched in 1990 and still operating), the James Webb Space Telescope (launched in 2021 and now producing some of the deepest images of the universe ever captured), the Mars rovers (Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance), and the Voyager spacecraft, which have left the solar system.

NASA's current major programs include Artemis, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually send humans to Mars; commercial crew partnerships with SpaceX and Boeing to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station; Earth science satellites that monitor climate, weather, and natural disasters; and a wide range of robotic missions exploring planets, moons, asteroids, and the broader universe. NASA also conducts aeronautics research that has led to advances in aircraft design and air traffic management. Recent NASA Administrators include Charles Bolden, Jim Bridenstine, Bill Nelson, and Janet Petro.