What is 'NASA'


    Definition: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a state-owned agency of United States of America in control of the civil space program along with advanced research in aerospace and aeronautics. It was established by the then President Dwight D. Eisenhower with a distinct orientation towards civilian areas rather than military to encourage the peaceful application of space science. After the successful passage of the National Aeronautics and Space Act in July 1958, the agency came into existence on October 1, 1958 with headquarters in Washington, D.C.

    Description: Since its incorporation, most of the space exploration efforts of the United States have been led by the NASA, gradually making the agency the most advanced space agency on Earth. Some revolutionary and remarkable space programs carried out by the agency include the Apollo missions for moon-landing, the Skylab space station and later on the infamous Space Shuttle program. The establishment of Hubble Space Telescope by NASA in 1990 is considered to be one of the turning points in human understanding of the universe. It was due to Hubble that we were able to see the pictures of distant stars and planets in our galaxy. At present, NASA is one of the key members in the support and maintenance of the ISS (International Space Station).

    NASA has successfully sent space probes to all the planets in our solar system which helped in understanding the anatomy of our solar system. The most recent achievement was the New Horizons space probe, launched on January 19, 2006, which performed a flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015 and sent high-definition pictures of the surface of Pluto for the first time. Another ambitious project of NASA is the MAVEN spacecraft under Mars Scout program to study the Martian atmosphere.

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