The Start of NASA
Think that NASA started with the space race? Well, you’re kind of correct...
As part of our celebration of Apollo 14’s 50th Anniversary, we’re posting information on Alan Shepard, the Apollo Program, and NASA.
Long before NASA was an acronym familiar to those who look at the stars, the United States was concerned about the development of aviation technologies in World War I. As part of the Naval Appropriations Act of 1915, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) was created with the mission of supporting and conducting aeronautical research. Continuing this work in World War II, NACA research included test flights, simulations, and wind tunnel construction. Some of those wind tunnels are capable of producing supersonic conditions, including tunnels at Ames Aeronautical Laboratory which also has the largest wind tunnel in the world. Today these wind tunnels are used to test everything from Mars parachutes to spacecraft designed for our return to the Moon.
The 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik shocked the world and priorities changed for the US in terms of science research. President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act in 1958 creating NASA. NACA was then absorbed into the new agency. NASA was charged with research both within and outside of the atmosphere, expanding efforts to include space exploration and incorporating projects from other agencies. Officially NASA’s first launch came just 10 days after the agency opened, with the lift off of Pioneer 1 (originally Able 2) which was a mission of the US Air Force. That same year, NASA inaugurated Project Mercury with its goal of getting a man into space.
