NASA Founding and the Sputnik crisis NASA

NASA

Founding and the Sputnik crisis. NASA was preceded by the "National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics"(NACA). In 1958 the agency was dissolved and transformed to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The Soviets started first launching Sputnik 1, the first object made by people to enter space, in October 1957. The Americans were worried by this. It caused a crisis known as the Sputnik Crisis.

The Mercury Project. The Mercury Project was a series of space missions designed by NASA. They were mostly to test if humans could survive in space. After they proved it was possible for people to live in space they moved on.

Project Gemini did three things. First, it proved that two spacecraft could dock in space. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, was also on the first Gemini flight to dock with another spacecraft in outer space.

The Apollo Program The first Apollo mission, Apollo 1, ended in disaster when a fire in the command module killed all the astronauts onboard. The Apollo 8 and 10 missions went to the moon.

The Apollo Program The first Apollo mission, Apollo 1, ended in disaster when a fire in the command module killed all the astronauts onboard. The Apollo 8 and 10 missions went to the moon.

The only part of the Apollo spaceship to come back to Earth was the capsule, the Lunar Lander was left behind.

The Apollo Program