NASA Celebrates 60th Anniversary

Editor's note: the following story was submitted by Fatema Waad Jalal, a Johns Creek High School student.

Monday, Oct. 1 marks NASA’s 60th year in operation since 1958. During this period of hard work, NASA has provided humanity with knowledge about the universe that, otherwise, would have been impossible without the agency’s technological innovation. NASA’s development dates back to the Space Race during the Cold War. As the Soviets were clobbering the United States during the Space Race, America needed an institution to guide their efforts in reaching the cosmos.

From the Mercury missions to research being conducted on the International Space Station, NASA has expanded its knowledge in rockets, spacecrafts, and how microgravity affects astronauts. Turn around and look at your surroundings, more than likely you will find some kind of NASA technology. From water filtration systems to GPS navigation, NASA is truly creating a blazing trail of innovation.

Important Milestones That Led To NASA's Creation

During an era of intense tensions between the USSR and the U.S., the Soviets led the Space Race by launching the first-ever satellite, Sputnik, into space. The U.S. was in shock at the fact that the Soviets could launch missiles all the way to outer space and were worried that these missiles could hit any target in the nation. The U.S. was not even going to consider the fact that they are now in second place; instead, they will start working on their own rocket and satellite.

The Vanguard TV3 rocket carried a satellite called the Vanguard 1A, which was a small aluminum sphere to test the three-stage rocket. The launch of the Vanguard TV3 rocket and the Vanguard 1A satellite was supposed to be the first attempt to put a satellite into orbit around Earth. On Dec. 6, 1957, every American gathered around their televisions to watch this historic launch. However, tragedy occurred just after two seconds of liftoff when the rocket toppled to the pad on live TV.

The United States was humiliated by this failure of trying to launch technology into space. After the failure of the Vanguard TV3 rocket, America was still hopeful that they could launch a satellite in Low Earth Orbit. On Jan. 31, 1958, the U.S. launched the Juno 1 rocket that carried a satellite named Explorer 1. Explorer 1 was the U.S. first successful launched satellite that orbited Earth 58,000 times! The satellite achievement included the discovery of the Van Allen Belts, the radiation belts encircling Earth. Explorer 1 carried a cosmic ray detector that was supposed to measure the cosmic radiation in Earth Orbit.

When data was received, it showed a much lower cosmic radiation count than expected. This led to the suspicion that the satellite detector was receiving too many charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field. These charged particles were an inner belt, known now as the Van Allen Belts, around Earth that soaked the detector with very strong radiation.

All the launches taking place and the discoveries were all being made when NASA has not yet been formed. So how was NASA established?

Before talking about how NASA was instituted we need to know a little about its successor agency, NACA.
During World War I the United States dawdled behind Europe in airplane technology, much like how the U.S. lagged behind Russia in the space race. As a result, NACA (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) was formed in 1915. The Langley Aeronautical Laboratory was the first testing facility and research center for airplane technology that was established as NACA expanded. Today, the Langley Research Center is the home for testing NASA’s next generation of ever improving aircraft and space capsules. NACA performed numerous test flights in its years.

Most of their flight tests took place in their famous wind tunnels in which they studied how to improve the aerodynamics of aircraft that resulted in their aircrafts to go high speeds. When World War II ended, NACA had one goal in mind: to make supersonic flight a possibility. NACA established the Muroc Unit in California at Edwards Air Force Base to work with the U.S. Air Force and Bell Aircraft to design the first ever supersonic aircraft.

The first Supersonic flight took place on Oct. 14, 1947, in the Bell X-1 plane piloted by Captain Charles Yeager. The Bell X-1 plane was a rocket-powered airplane that did not take off from the ground, but rather, launched in the air from a Boeing B-29 plane. For an aircraft to go supersonic it has to have a Mach number greater than that of 1.0 and the Bell X-1 reached 1.45 Mach, making it the fastest manned plane ever flown.

Today, NASA is working to bringing supersonic flight back and working on the goal of making the sonic boom much quieter. NASA is developing the X-Plane, called the X-59 QUESST (QUESST standing for the Quiet Supersonic Technology). The X-59 is under the mission-the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, in which the airplane will fly faster than the speed of sound and yet won’t generate loud sonic booms.

When the tension between Russia and the U.S. heightened in the space race, NACA spent most of its time focusing on missile technology. NACA started to devote its time to designing the reentry of space vehicles and was responsible for developing the spacecraft that would re-enter Earth with a heat shield. NACA also started to look above the horizon for manned space flight. These and much more were all going to be a part of the space program, but not under NACA. As the Soviets sent an utter shock to the United States by launching Sputnik; America knew that if they are joining this space race they had to have a space agency to allocate all their missions too.

Six months after the launch of Explorer 1, on July 29, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act which formed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. NASA did not start its operations until Oct. 1 that year, in which today marks its 60th anniversary.

NACA’s projects and missions were all merged into the space agency. NASA was founded for bringing human spaceflight along with satellite and robotic missions to making aeronautical research. It’s all thanks to NACA for setting the cornerstones of NASA’s technological success of today.

NASA In the 21st Century

Today, NASA is setting its sights to returning to the Moon- but this time to stay. President Donald Trump is planning to refocus on America’s spaceflight program and returning to the Moon. In December 2017, President Trump signed a directive that states that NASA will partner with commercial and international partners to expand our knowledge in the solar system and to worlds beyond. In a speech the president made, he stated that this directive “marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use. This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints — we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, worlds beyond.”

READ MORE: International Space Station | Apollo Missions | Project Mercury | Project Gemini | Space Shuttle Program

Today, NASA is designing in what will be known as the world’s most powerful rocket: the Space Launch System to carry astronauts to the Moon and beyond. Yes, this rocket will be even more powerful than the Saturn V! SLS stands 365 feet tall, only a few feet taller than Saturn V, weighs 5.5 million pounds, and generates 8.4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff! SLS will carry a spacecraft known as Orion that will carry astronauts into deep space.

Orion is the world’s safest spacecraft as it has a launch abort system just in case in an emergency, the astronauts can eject. It also provides safe re-entry from deep space to Earth; as astronauts return from a distant journey from space, the spacecraft in which they are in can reach temperatures greater than that of 4,000 degrees. Engineers designed the Orion spacecraft heat shield to withstand these kinds of intense temperatures. The SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft are planned for an uncrewed mission known as, Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) in 2019 in which the spacecraft will fly thousands of miles beyond the Moon and return to Earth with intense heat and speeds. This mission will pave the way for crew missions to the Moon and beyond in 2023.

NASA is planning on setting a space station near the Moon so astronauts can conduct experiments closer to the celestial body. This space station is known as the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway. The Gateway will be a place where astronauts could live and work to study the Moon. This station is part of the plan of colonizing the Moon and making our journey toward Mars.

NASA's missions and discoveries over the years are just a few things of what it has done during its 60 years in operation. Through hard work and determination, NASA’s next 60 years and beyond will take humanity to a journey through the cosmos. To keep up with NASA missions this year, make sure you tune in to watch the INSIGHT Mars Lander land on the Red Planet this coming November, after being launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on May 5.

Also, make sure to stay updated on NASA’s upcoming Commercial Crew Program, in which American astronauts will begin to launch from American Soil for the first time since 2011 atop a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. Happy 60th anniversary NASA, and cheers to many more discoveries and exciting missions on the way!

Be sure to visit NASA's website to learn more about its history and missions.

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