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NASA

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, pronounced /ˈnæsə/) is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958 from its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). NASA has led U.S. efforts for space exploration ever since, resulting in the Apollo missions to the Moon, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently NASA is supporting the International Space Station and developing new Ares I and IV launch vehicles.

In addition to the space program, it is also responsible for long-term civilian and military aerospace research. NASA Science is focused on better understanding Earth itself through the Earth Observing System, advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate's Heliophysics Research Program, exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic missions such as New Horizons, and researching astrophysics topics, such as the Big Bang, through the Great Observatories and associated programs. Since February 2006 NASA's self-described mission statement is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research."

For more information about NASA, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with nasa

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LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon

LCROSS Impact Finds Water on the Moon

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (31) | comments 15

(PhysOrg.com) -- The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists ...


mars surface

Rare Scottish mineral may indicate life on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 10, 2009 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (21) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists is looking for clues about life on Mars in an earthy clay mineral found only in Aberdeenshire in Scotland.


Sandtrapped Rover Makes a Big Discovery

Sandtrapped Rover Makes a Big Discovery

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (56) | comments 11

Homer's Iliad tells the story of Troy, a city besieged by the Greeks in the Trojan War. Today, a lone robot sits besieged in the sands of Troy while engineers and scientists plot its escape.


Success in 'space elevator' competition (AP)

Success in 'space elevator' competition (Update 3)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (36) | comments 54

(AP) -- A robot powered by a ground-based laser beam climbed a long cable dangling from a helicopter on Wednesday to qualify for prize money in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the ...


A Mars Rover Named 'Curiosity'

A Mars Rover Named 'Curiosity'

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 30, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (18) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- If you found your grandmother's diary, tattered and dust covered, up in the attic, would you read it? Of course you would. Granny was a pistol! Brush off the dust, open up the little book, ...


Astronomers explore 'last blank space' on map of the Universe

Astronomers explore 'last blank space' on map of the Universe

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (30) | comments 71

(PhysOrg.com) -- The most distant object ever discovered is described in this week's edition of the science journal Nature. Two international teams of astronomers report their observations of a gamma-ray burst ...


Are Sunspots Disappearing?

Are Sunspots Disappearing?

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 03, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (23) | comments 15

The sun is in the pits of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. Weeks and sometimes whole months go by without even a single tiny sunspot. The quiet has dragged out for more than two years, prompting ...


Will Kepler find habitable moons?

Will Kepler find habitable moons?

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 03, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (14) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- Since the launch of the NASA Kepler Mission earlier this year, astronomers have been keenly awaiting the first detection of an Earth-like planet around another star. Now, in an echo of science ...


A NASA satellite image of iceberg B17B (C), floating southwest off the West Australian coast

'Monster' iceberg shedding hundreds of offshoots

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (9) | comments 2

An island-sized iceberg is breaking up as it drifts closer to Australia, producing hundreds of smaller slabs spread over a massive area of ocean, experts said Monday.


Fermi sees brightest-ever blazar flare

Fermi sees brightest-ever blazar flare

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (10) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- A galaxy located billions of light-years away is commanding the attention of NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and astronomers around the globe. Thanks to a series of flares that began ...


NASA's WISE infrared satellite to reveal new galaxies, stars, asteroids

NASA's WISE infrared satellite to reveal new galaxies, stars, asteroids

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Data from the satellite, says principal investigator and UCLA professor Edward Wright, will help scientists answer fundamental questions about the history of our solar system, the Milky Way ...


Ares I-X rocket

NASA puzzled why parachutes failed in rocket test

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 3

(AP) -- NASA still isn't sure why two parachutes failed during a test flight of its prototype moon rocket just over a month ago.


The International Space Station

NASA: Floating 'junk' no threat to space station

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 28, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(AP) -- NASA says a piece of old space junk that it's been tracking for a few days is no threat to the International Space Station.


Mars Reconnaissance Orbite

Mars Reconnaissance Orbite Team Plans Uplink of Protective Files

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The team operating NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter plans to uplink protective files to the spacecraft next week as one step toward resuming the orbiter's research and relay activities.


Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on supply mission (AP)

Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off on supply mission

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Space shuttle Atlantis and its six-member crew began an 11-day delivery flight to the International Space Station on Monday with a 2:28 p.m. EST launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in ...