NASA 60 YEARS

NASA logo.  Courtesy of NASA.

   60 years ago, NASA had officially started operations of the United States space exploration. After the period of the cold war, the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), surprised the United States on October 4, 1957, by launching the ever first man made satellite into space, Sputnik 1.  The little satellite orbited the Earth for three weeks, 1440 orbits, and its signals can be received by ham amateurs all over the world. A little passed New Year's on January 31, 1958, the United States sent the its first satellite into orbit, despite a rocket failure before. Explorer 1, was successful. It had instruments to do studies of Earth, and did this for four months before dying. A few months later, on July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, into effect, and created the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA). On October 1st, the Agency got itself together, and started its work competing against the Soviet Union to win the Space Race.

Explorer 1, America's
first satellite.
Courtesy of NASA.

   With the US first satellite in space, 4 Explorer probes were sent (E 2&5 failed & E 3&4 success), bringing data down to NASA. This was a huge step, however the Soviet Union had accomplished a lot more than the US, like sending the first animal into space, sending the first satellites to moon, and sending the first person to space. Despite its late start, NASA, sent Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space, after Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space and to orbit the Earth (sent by the Soviet Union), and soon got John Glenn to be the first American to orbit around Earth. Again the Soviets got the first spacewalk only followed months later for the first American spacewalk. America was losing the space race, and they have to do something about it.

Earth rising above Moon's horizon.
Apollo 8.
Courtesy of NASA.

    On 1961, John F. Kennedy, in an effort to get a step ahead of the Soviet Union, called that the US will sent the first man onto the moon. This was a great accomplishment for the US. However, everything was not all great. Three people were killed during an Apollo 1 training on ground, and almost caused the Agency to discontinue the mission. Soon the other Apollo missions will take a greater distance of the mission, and Apollo 7, the first manned moon mission, and Apollo 8, the second which orbited around the Earth, and took the famous picture of Earth rising above the horizon. Soon Apollo 9, and 10 soon got Apollo 11 ready for the first man of the moon within the planned time.

The lunar module pictured
by Michael Collins from the
Command Module.

Buzz on the Moon.
Courtesy of NASA.

The only picture of Neil
Armstrong on the Moon.

Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the
soil on Moon.
Courtesy of NASA.

    Kennedy's dream came true on July 20 1969, when Neil Armstrong touched the moon and famously stated, "One small step for man, one big leap for mankind." The American Space Agency has defeated the Soviet Union by placing the first man on the moon. The mission was carried out by the Saturn V rocket, which was used by the other Apollo missions. Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins were part of the trip. Armstrong was the commander; Aldrin, the lunar module pilot; and Collins, the command module. Only Armstrong and Aldrin will walk on the moon, Collin waits in the command module to reconnect together and blast back to Earth. The famous American flag was placed on the moon, and instruments (EVA) were put on the moon. However, not a lot of pictures of Neil were taken on the moon, which Armstrong later stated before his death, "We didn't spend any time worrying about who took what pictures. It didn't occur to me that it made any difference, as long as they were good... I don't think Buzz had any reason to take my picture, and it never occured to me that he should." Aldrin admits that he feels sorry for not taking more pictures of Neil, but Neil disagrees saying that it's OK.
(restored of the Apollo 11 mission EVA video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9HdPi9Ikhk  )

A race on the Moon with the
lunar rover.
Courtesy of NASA.

      The next Apollo mission, Apollo 12, went as planned, but Apollo 13, was a complete disaster, the air tanks and batteries were down, later found out to be caused by a poor insulated wiring. One air tank had completely leaked into the space, and two batteries are completely dead, and the second tank was losing pressure, a big problem for the astronauts. After hours of thinking and planning, the Mission Control successfully brought the crew back home safely and unharmed. Apollo 14, 15, 16, and 17 were very successful, with Apollo 17 coming to be the last of the Apollo missions also achieving some records, along the moon landing itself. Many regard the Apollo missions to be the most successful of the Agency's missions.

Skylab from the widow of the
last cargo sent to the station.
Courtesy of NASA.

     Before the International Space Station, NASA built its own space station, the Skylab, were scientific findings and experiments on the lab. However, almost a decade later, the space station fell into the planet. Soon, the International Space Station was built, with corporations and fundings from many countries, pieces were brought up to space and astronauts and cosmonauts built together the space station, and the two countries formed alliances and agreed for space exploration for the cause of peace.

The explosion of the Challenger shuttle.  Courtesy of NASA.

    Space shuttles were then invented and are a lot more efficient than the rockets used before, the shuttle could be reused, many satellites and loads can be carried, and a lot more work can be done. However, two disasters, the Challenger and Columbia accidents helped scientists learn about mistakes they made and not to do it again. Challenger was delayed for many weeks and was launched with a fault in the O-ring in the rockets, which caused the shuttle to explode right after liftoff [57 seconds after liftoff] (this was not the first launch of the shuttle), killing all seven people. Columbia exploded during reentry when a piece of the heat resistance foam on the shuttle wings were kicked off during liftoff (also not first mission for shuttle), also killed all passengers aboard. Finally on July 21, 2011, Atlantis made touchdown on Earth (a successful mission), and the Agency discontinued the shuttle missions.

Hubble pictured by space shuttle
astronauts that went to fix the
telescope.
Courtesy of NASA.

Picture from a galaxy, which
its light is from the dinosaur period.
Courtesy of NASA.

A lenticular galaxy.
Courtesy of NASA.

A very beautiful galaxy in the
dark background.
Courtesy of NASA.

The two pictures taken by Hubble.
See the difference after the flaw was fixed?
Courtesy of NASA.

   Many space pictures taken by probes are beautiful, but one remarkable space probe (telescope), is the Hubble Telescope launched in 1990, but a flaw on the film occurred and the Atlantis shuttle brought people up to the telescope and fixed the flaw, and pictures taken by Hubble is very remarkable, and beautiful. Hubble also sees into the teenage years of space, because it can capture light so far away, that the light were from 480 millions years ago.

The very first and
famous picture
of the Earth and the
moon, taken by
Voyager 1.
Courtesy of NASA.

The probe and its golden disks
for other terrestrial life to 'see'
the message from humans.
Courtesy of NASA.

Artist draws the locations of the
Voyager probes.

 







    The farthest ever probes in space sent by anyone are the Voyagers (1 & 2), which both are still contacting with NASA to this day. The Voyager Mission was to explore the outer planets in the 1970's because of a rare alignment of the outer planets that happens 175 years. Launched on a Titan-Centaur rocket, with Voyager 2 at a week of head start, Voyager 1 beats its partner and swings towards the outer solar system upon Saturn, while Voyager 2 explores the Uranus and Neptune. Both of these probes took amazing pictures of the outer planets and its moons, and Voyager 1 took the famous picture of Earth and Moon together in one shot--a first of its kind. 40 years later (2018), Voyager 1 had entered the interstellar space, where the sun has no influence, and Voyager 2 is just close behind but are on opposite planes from another. The Voyagers are expected to loose all power by 2025, thus the probes will just keep on going deeper into space. However, both probes has done more than what they could have handled, the mission was thought to have lasted only 5 years, but are still going after 4 decades and are still going on. (Video of Voyager's Pictures:
https://youtu.be/BbLAze0Rbs4list=PLTiv_XWHnOZq5bv1w9Db2uNJVFiVCkWW5 )

Sunset at the Viking Lander
location.
Courtesy of NASA.

A comparison of the Mars rovers,
with Sojourner, Opportunity & Spirit,
and Curiosity.
Courtesy of NASA.

The Rover has been taken in
this shot from a probe orbiting
the planet.
Courtesy of NASA.

Earth and Moon seen from Mars.
Courtesy of NASA.

The rovers' locations on the Red Planet.
Courtesy of NASA.

Mars' two moon, Phobos and Deimos
are seen in these series of pictures.
Courtesy of NASA.

Opportunity captured series of
pictures of the dust storm.
courtesy of NASA.

Martian blueberries, caught with
the Opportunity Rover camera,
with false color.
Courtesy of NASA.

   Mars had always been an interesting place for NASA, and the previous missions had brought the Agency steps closer to bringing probes and machines to Mars. The Viking probes touchdown on Mars 1975, which as a success landed and did research on its surrounding rocks, like a laboratory. The probes had a camera, wind sensors, and a robotic arm for scientific gatherings. The two probes lasted for about 5 years, and now just sits on the surface of Mars. However, the Agency has another groundbreaking probe, the Opportunity Rover. Sent and landed in Mars on January 25, 2004, the rover holds the record of the longest travelled and lived rover. Supposedly thought to last only for ninety days, the rover has been alive 14 years, however, due to a large dust storm this (2018) summer, the rover has now still been inactive, and the Agency is hoping for its recover. The rover has made many discoveries like the first meteorite on Mars; martian blueberries; partial eclipse with Phobos, Mars' largest moon; a shot of Comet Siding Spring over the martian sky; amd even got stuck in thick sand once, but was saved. The Opportunity Rover has been a successful mission on Mars for the Agency's search for water and life on the planet, however, as I stated earlier the rover has not been communicating with NASA, and this could be the year of its end (However, there is a picture of the rover in its location taken by an orbiting probe).

Colored map of Pluto, after the
probe's flyby.
Courtesy of NASA.

Pluto caught by
the probe's nearest
approach. See the tiny
atmosphere?
Courtesy of NASA.

Sputnik Planum was explored more deeply by the probe.
Courtesy of NASA.

Charon, Pluto's largest moon.
Courtesy of NASA.

     New Horizons probe were sent to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt rocks, and took amazing pictures of the dwarf planet in 2015. It has given scientists a new way of seeing the icy, rocky, and yet active celestial body. Although the mission was only six months, the probe gave us a lot of detailed shots of Pluto and its other moons, and is still going, studying (wishing) to encounter other objects in the outer solar system, like the outer Kuiper belt.

A beautiful picture of Ceres,
a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt.
Still, one of the other missions held out by NASA.
Courtesy of NASA.

     NASA has a lot of space missions, that failed or had been successful, too much to list!!  With all these missions NASA has gained lots of knowledge about our solar system and are still learning about the fabulous heavens!!  One of the newest probes sent to is the Parker Solar Probe to 'touch' the sun, and learn more about the sun, and thus we can predict the next solar flare, and other solar affecting weathers. Many science experiments however, are around our own planet, studying climate warming, the loss of ice, the atmosphere, and other really useful information for Earth's climate, including better weather forecasts. Go to: https://www.nasa.gov/missions for more details on the missions of Mars.

NASA 60 YEARS!!

    The American Space Agency has accomplished a lot more than any other has! A salute to all those in the Mission Control, Scientists, Leaders, Presidents, Astronauts, corporators, background people, funders, and all the people of UNITED STATES for their inspiration and ideas for the Agency!! The NASA webpage is nasa.gov, for more info, competitions, job opportunities, pictures, and just learning more about the past, present, and future of NASA missions!!
 

Bibliography:

Madden, April. "History of NASA" Bookazine 2018. Print.

NASA. Retrieved on the month of September from https://nasa.gov/.

Redd, Nola. "NASA: 60 Years of Space Exploration" 7 November 2017. Space.com. Retrieved on September 30, 2018 from
https://www.space.com/38700-nasa-history.html/.

Howell, Elizabeth. "Explorer 1: The First U.S Satellite" 10 August 2017. Space.com. Retrieved on September 30, 2018 from
https://www.space.com/17825-explorer-1.html/.