NASA ORIGIN

National Aeronautics and Space Administartion

NASA is an American government agency that deals with space, space exploration, and the development of space vehicles.

Very concisely, because the path to these starts from a thousand directions and branches out to a thousand directions, from the screw casting to quantum physics, for example. =)

Let’s start with the institution on the foundations of which America was able to build all this in barely 1 year.

NACA

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

It was founded on March 3, 1915, during World War I, with the aim of bringing all aeronautical and related developments under one institution for the sake of transparency. In 1957, a subcommittee was formed that specialized in space technology: Special Committee on Space Technology.

This committee became the cornerstone of NASA. But what happened in 1957 that accelerated events?

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first spacecraft into orbit around the Earth: Sputnik 1.

This was a serious blow to America. To understand this, we need to look even further back in the history.

From Newton to the Cold War

The cosmic velocity was calculated based on the laws of Sir Isaac Newton (December 25, 1642, England – March 31, 1727, England), an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer. Achieving the cosmic velocity is necessary to be able to put a spacecraft into orbit around a given celestial body, for example, or to avoid being pulled back by the gravity of the celestial body. The height required for this was officially calculated by Theodor von Kármán (May 11, 1881, Hungary – May 6, 1963, Germany ), a physicist, applied mathematician, and mechanical engineer, in the 1950s.

But for this we need a rocket.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (September 17, 1857, Russia – September 19, 1935, Russia) was a Russian aeronautical engineer, research scientist, mathematician worked on space exploration on a theoretical level. He laid down on paper, among other things, the operating principle of the multistage rocket.

Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882, England – August 10, 1945, USA) was an English aeronautical engineer, physicist, inventor who built the first liquid – propellant rocket (“father of modern rocket propulsion”), Nell, in 1926.

In fact, however, the Germans were the greatest developers of rockets. Building on Goddard’s work, they worked on many developments during and before World War II. Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was a German physicist and aeronautical engineer who was a prominent figure in these research and developments. He developed, among other things, the V – 2, or Vergeltungswaffe – 2 (“vengeance weapon”), a single – stage, liquid – fueled ballistic missile renamed by Hitler. This was the first rocket to enter space – it crossed the boundary we call the Kármán line – although this was not planned.

The V2 rocket

On June 20, 1944, a V – 2 rocket launched from a German site reached an altitude of 176 km. This gave the researchers at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico the idea of ​​somehow taking a photo from space using a rocket of this type they had acquired. However, this rocket was not designed to return safely, as the explosive charge was activated upon impact. So it was necessary to ensure that the camera would return to Earth safely. In place of the explosive charge, a 35 mm camera was placed in a heat and shock-resistant steel box.

The V – 2 rocket, which was used to take the first space photo, was launched on October 24, 1946. This photo shows part of the southwestern United States.

After World War II, both the Soviet Union and the USA swooped down German rocket scientists and engineers. Political opposition, ideological differences, secret developments, reaching outer space. The Cold War began between the two superpowers on several fronts.

The Soviets were more enthusiastic about developing and demonstrating rockets, while America was rather late to join in this field. Then both superpowers began space exploration. American President Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14, 1890, USA – March 28, 1969, USA) announced that America would be the first to send a satellite into outer space. While America did not secretly experiment in this field, openly admitting failures, the Soviet Union quietly reported only on its successes.

And we’re back to October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik – 1. It’s unlikely that it was their first spacecraft to be launched, but it was the first one they announced to be successful. In its own way. Because it was destroyed after 3 months in low orbit.

Space race – end of NACA – born of NASA

This was the point when the Cold War between the two powers reached a more serious level. The conquest of space by any means possible became a matter of national security and prestige. The Special Committee on Space Technology, a subcommittee specializing in space technology within NACA, was established in America. On January 31, 1958, the first American space probe, Explorer 1, was launched. With minimal preparations, under political pressure. This unofficially began the space race between the Soviet Union and the USA.

In the summer of 1958, American President Eisenhower signed the law establishing NASA, which formally began its operation on October 1 of the same year. This day marked the end of NACA and the beginning of NASA.

The Russians had the advantage for a long time: animals in space, Luna – probes to explore the Moon, Venera – probes to explore Venus. Then they also won the title of the First man in Space: on April 12, 1961, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (March 9, 1934, Russia – March 27, 1968, Russia) orbited the Earth in the Vostok 1 spacecraft. The first female cosmonaut was also Soviet: Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (March 6, 1937, Russia – ). The Soviet Union also achieved the first spacewalk by Aleksei Arkhipovich Leonov (May 30, 1934, Russia – October 11, 2019, Russia).

However, Mars was “taken” by the Americans: on July 14, 1965, their Mariner 4 probe took the first picture of the planet. Of course, a Soviet probe was the first to land on its surface. =)

Apollo – program

After the Russian success of the “first man in space” in April, US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963) announced the Apollo program in May 1961. Interestingly, as a senator, he opposed the space program and even wanted to cancel it. Kennedy appointed James Edwin Webb (October 7, 1906, USA — March 27, 1992, USA) to the forefront of NASA, after whom that particular space telescope was named.

Parallel to the Apollo program, the Gemini program was launched, in which astronauts were prepared for the subsequent landing on the moon (practicing various maneuvers, spacewalks, etc.), the spacecraft itself was tested, and military experiments were also conducted within the program.

Before all this, a launch vehicle was needed. This was the 3 – stage, liquid – propellant Saturn V, the technical basis of which was the V-2 rocket. The Saturn V was developed by Werner von Braun and his team. Yes, that Braun. =)
After World War II, he worked on the American rocket projects, and then with the formation of NASA, these projects, so he also became a NASA employee, later one of the deputy directors.

Ground – based investments also began, such as the construction of the future Kennedy Space Center.

Later, Kennedy urged that the Moon landing should be an international program, American – Soviet cooperation, but the Soviets were also working on their own lunar program and rejected this initiative.

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 and its crew successfully landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong walked on its surface for the first time in human history.

Six more missions to the Moon were launched by the American side, five of which were successful. Apollo 13 had to turn back because its oxygen tank exploded. The crew also lost power to the spacecraft, and miraculously were able to return to Earth by transferring to the lunar module.

The Soviet Union never managed to land on the Moon, and it was clear that their various agencies were competing with each other.

The last time a man stepped on the Moon was in 1972. After that… the Moon became uninteresting for many decades…

But, with the Artemis program, we are once again preparing for our celestial companion, just like we did for Mars. =)

Space stations

On the American side, the space station project was the Pentagon’s, for the purpose of space exploration.

The first test station to host humans for a long period of time was the Soviet Salyut – 1, after they had stopped their lunar landing program.

Using the tools of the Apollo program as a basis, NASA also switched to the space station project, which was Skylab, America’s first space station. Which was of course four times the size of the Saljut 1. =)

Shuttles and everything else

The Americans turned all their attention to the Space Shuttle program in the 1970s. We know what happened. The program was stopped in 2011. After that the private company Space – X, led by Elon Musk, entered the scene with its carrier rockets, which could replace the Shuttle (supply to the space station, manned missions, delivery of probes).

NASA has a lot of projects under its belt. Within the framework of its own and international projects, it is discovering more and more things in outer space: planets, stars, galaxies, conditions prevailing in space, research into the origin and existence of our galaxy and solar system.

Along with all this, it has also brought about the development of science and technology.

International NASA

The unofficial space race lasted until July 1975, when the Apollo – 18 and Soyuz – 19 spacecraft docked in orbit around the Earth as part of the Soyuz – Apollo Test Projet, the first attempt at an international space station.

Then came the MIR and the ISS, which is still in orbit. And national space agencies, such as:

In May 1975, Europe also founded its own space agency called European Space Agency – ESA. Today, it has 22 member states – including Hungary –, initially it had 10, and it works in cooperation with other states.

In 1985, the Canadian Space Agency – CSA, was also established.

On October 1, 2003, Japan also established its own agency, merging several of its organizations: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency – JAXA.

The modern – day “space race” began with China’s great leap in 2003, when the country launched astronaut Yang Liwei (June 21, 1965, China – ) on its own spacecraft and launch vehicle. =) The third superpower that was able to d o this. Their space agency was founded on April 22, 1993, the China National Space Administration – CNSA. Since then, they have had their own space station orbiting up there, the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace).

Space law

Outer space belongs to everyone, no country or people can own or control it. Peace reigns out there, and for this, a lot of things have to be included in legislation, and to this day, new paragraphs are created with the development of space exploration. You can read about it HERE.

Footnote

A lighter(?) interesting fact to the end –

You see in movies that NASA is obliged to make its results public within a fixed time. Well, the truth is that it is first obliged to deliver them to the American National Security Agency – NSA. They censor, or not the news and results, which are then presented to the general public. Or not. =)

This is stipulated in the official document of NASA, which includes the Space Act. This clause has not been modified since then.

Be a Nerdy Bird!