Why We Need NASA

Past Links: NASA's Early Years

 

NACA Origins: Before NASA came NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. This early try at a National Air and Space program was quite revolutionary for its time. One of the most inspiring aspects to take away from this website is the difference in progress that is visible between the very start, and where we currently sit in our space program. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4406/chap1.html

 

Apollo 13 Image Gallery: The following gallery is a collection of the photos connected to NASA's historic Apollo 13 images. Unique with this gallery is the sheer number of different photos caught in very high resolution, and the attention to detail of the historians documenting the event is incredibly high. https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a13/images13.html

 

X-15 Jet Plane: To this day, the X-15 still stands as the fastest manned rocket plane ever. As you will see if you visit the accompanying website, the record setting didn't come without costs however. Crashes and deaths were no stranger to the development process, and these tragedies are just one small example of the history of NASA's tragic history of pushing the limits of human capabilities. http://sploid.gizmodo.com/the-best-photos-of-the-x-15-fastest-manned-aircraft-ev-1675268839

 

Former Astronauts recall Historic First Moon Landing: Astronauts involved with the first Moon landing, Apollo 11, conduct an interview centered around the history that was set all the way back in 1967. The emotion felt while reading through this passage is pretty compelling information, not to mention pretty sweet that these veteran men are still kicking butt. http://www.nasa.gov/content/former-astronauts-recall-historic-first-moon-landing

 

Pioneer 4 Marked NASA's First Exploration Mission Beyond Earth: Earth's first successful mission past Earth orbit was Pioneer 4, 55 years ago. March 3rd, 1959, Pioneer 4 successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 5 and became the first American spacecraft to escape Earth's gravity. Some of it's primary objectives were to explore and discover various radiation fields, track the movement of different celestial bodies in space, Contact was lost from Pioneer 4's tiny radio on March 6, 1959, after 82 hours of transmissions and 655,000 miles of travel. It was the farthest tracking distance for a human-made object at the time. http://www.nasa.gov/content/pioneer-4-marked-nasas-first-exploration-mission-beyond-earth

Space Shuttle Program- Cosmic Commuter: One of the greatest achievements of NASA in this generation, the space shuttle was a magnificent feat of engineering and technology. After the much smaller ships during the Apollo age, the Space Shuttle set new standards in terms of reusibility, reliablity, and versatility. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/space-exploration/space-shuttle-program/