History Of NASA

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NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

SPUTNIK 1

Sputnik (Russian: "Спу́тник-1" Russian pronunciation: [ˈsputnʲɪk], or Elementary Satellite-1)) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. The surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments.

Example of NASA being used

Disadvantages of NASA
Disadvantages of space exploration include the cost and the danger. Currently, many people are under the impression that our missions to space are not very cost effective, especially considering the current state of our economy, and this is often an immediate turn off to a most people. It is true that we could spend less money on our missions and make them more cost effective, but usually the U.S. space program ...

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... becomes highly important since no medical emergencies can be handled from the ground crew short of advice to the astronauts.
- Cost
The overall cost of human spaceflight versus robotic missions is a significant factor in the decision to continue missions. According to NASA, each space shuttle mission costs $420 million on average, but increased drastically after the Columbia disaster. These missions generally only last one to two weeks. Robotic missions cost significantly less money considering the tasks can take place over the course of years. For example, the Cassini-Huygens and Voyager missions have lasted years. In many ways, robotic missions are preferred over what many people may consider a traditional manned mission to space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasa http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/72499.aspx

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