By Who, When and How Was NASA First Established?

Today, although most of it is carried out by private companies, when we went back a few decades, the states were solely responsible for space studies. Of course, NASA is the first government agency that comes to mind when space studies are mentioned. The purpose of establishing an institution like NASA, which requires high costs to operate, was not a scientific curiosity, but a power struggle between countries that affected the whole world at that time.

Even though the hot conflicts were over after the Second World War, a covert struggle was still going on between the USA and the Soviets. NASA was established when this struggle, called the Cold War, went beyond the borders of the world and spilled into space. Since the first day of its establishment, NASA has undertaken many missions that allow us to explore the limits of the universe we live in, but at the same time, it has not been able to prevent some missions from failing.

The world order in which NASA was founded:

Before moving on to the establishment of NASA, it is useful to take a look at the world order in which this state institution emerged. The Second World War was just over, millions of people died, and the Nazi regime was liberated. But the world was divided into two poles. One pole was the capitalist United States, and the other pole was the communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The clash of these two great powers was happening in every field. the USA and the Soviets; On the one hand, they were trying to attract other countries to their side, on the one hand, they were conducting spying activities, on the other hand, they were trying to defeat each other with scientific and technological studies. With the Soviets’ launch of Sputnik I satellite on October 4, 1957, the direction of this struggle began to shift towards space. The USA had to do something.

When and by whom was NASA first established?

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, briefly NASA, in Turkish the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; It was founded on July 29, 1958 by the then United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Before NASA, such aviation activities were carried out by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which was established in 1915, in short NACA, in Turkish, by the National Advisory Committee in the Field of Aviation.

The purpose of NASA’s establishment was not scientific curiosity, but the US’s implicit struggle with the Soviets. Due to the Soviets sending satellites and dogs into space one after another, the Americans were in great panic and could not sleep in case these communists dropped bombs on our heads from space. Since President Eisenhower was already a World War II commander, he stepped in and quickly established NASA.

NASA’s primary goal was to show the world that there is also US power in space. Of course, the goal of scientists, if not politicians, was to explore the universe we live in. Whatever the reason for its establishment, when we look at the work done by the institution and today’s space exploration, it is possible to say that NASA has and is doing a lot of successful work.

Some successful missions of NASA:

• Apollo
• Hubble
• Viking
• Chandra
• Cassini-Huygens
• Spirit & Opportunity
• Spitzer
• WMAP
• Voyager
• Pioneer

Most successful missions: Apollo

Among the most successful missions undertaken by NASA, the Apollo missions will undoubtedly rank first. Considering that humans were sent to the Moon with Apollo 11, so what else? Thanks to the information we gained as a result of many missions within the scope of Apollo, we are getting to know our moon much better today.

We see the farthest points of the universe: Hubble

The Hubble mission, which brought the Hubble Telescope to humanity, from which we learned a lot about space today, is considered one of the most successful works of NASA. Thanks to this mission, we were able to obtain images from points of the universe that we could not even imagine.

First color images of Mars: Viking

In July 1976, the Viking 1 probe successfully landed on the surface of the planet Mars, outstripping its Soviet rivals. Thanks to this probe, which has been working on the surface of Mars for 6 years and 116 days, we have both unique information about Mars and colored images of Mars.

Supernova discoveries: Chandra

Founded in 1999, the Chandra Observatory observes space using X-rays. The beams it uses are 100 times more powerful than conventional X-ray telescopes. Thanks to these unique rays, many supernovas have been discovered.

Unique information about Saturn: Cassini-Huygens

NASA and ESA joint project Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched in 1997 and successfully reached its target planet Saturn in 2004 after a long time. Since then, we have obtained unique information thanks to the vehicle orbiting Saturn.

Everything we know about Mars: Spirit & Opportunity

twin spacecraft called Spirit & Opportunity landed on the planet Mars in 2004 and wandered around for as long as they could for 90 days. We owe much of what we know about Mars today to these twin spacecraft.

Formed the basis of many studies: Spitzer

The Spitzer Space Telescope, which forms the basis of cosmology and astrophysics studies, first discovered light from extrasolar planets in 2005, adding a unique dimension to space studies.

We learned the age of the Universe: WMAP

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP for short, in Turkish, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe; By measuring the radiation in the universe most accurately after the Big Bang, he provided precise theories for calculating the age of the universe.

They went to places we couldn’t even imagine: Voyager

The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, which were sent on an irreversible space mission many years ago, will continue to transmit signals to us from points in the universe we can’t even imagine until 2025. We owe everything we know about distant planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Pluto to them.

First vehicles to reach Saturn and Jupiter: Pioneer

The Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecrafts, launched in 1972 and 1973, are the first vehicles to reach Saturn and Jupiter. Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 are the first spacecraft to travel between Mars and Jupiter in the middle of the asteroid belt. The information they obtained was, of course, unique.

Some failed missions of NASA:

• STS-51-L
• STS-107
• Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Spacecraft caught fire: STS-51-L

The event, which went down in history as the Challenger Disaster, took place on January 28, 1986. Launched by NASA, the STS-51-L spacecraft broke apart a minute later and caught fire, killing all its crew members.

It started like a harmless fire: STS-107

The event that went down in history as the Columbia Disaster took place on February 1, 2003. A fire occurred 7 minutes later on the STS-107 spacecraft launched by NASA. Even though it was said that there was no problem, the fire spread and all the crew in the vehicle lost their lives.

Mysterious gas leak: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

The rocket launched in July 1975 as part of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint space effort between the US and the Soviets, successfully orbited the Earth. . When they returned 44 hours later, it was revealed that the vehicle had a nitrogen gas leak. The crew—three Americans and two Russians—was taken to hospital immediately. Fortunately, nothing happened to anyone. However, the leak caused great controversy.

We answered the question of who and when was NASA, the US government agency that has signed the most important space studies in the history of humanity, and we talked about the successful and unsuccessful space missions of the institution. You can share your thoughts about NASA and its work in the comments.