What is the Full Form Of NASA

NASA is a U.S. government agency. Full form of NASA is National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Though founded on July 29, 1958, by Dwight D. Eisenhower, it started operating on Oct. 1, 1958, to oversee U.S. space exploration and aeronautics research. NASA’s main headquarters is in Washington DC and its annual budget was over $20 billion as of 2018, with a strength of over 17 thousand employees.

Working of NASA

We can divide NASA’s work into four sections:

• Aeronautics: Develops advanced aviation technologies.
• Human Exploration and Operations: Manages manned space missions and international space stations. Along with this it also handles launching services, space transportation, and space communications for space missions.
• Science: Designs programs that help understand the origin, structure, evolution, and future of the Earth, solar system, and the universe.
• Space Technology: Develops space science and exploration technologies.

What does NASA do?

NASA does a lot of things from space explorations to scientific researches. Below is a list of some things that NASA does:

• Conducts scientific researches related to space.
• Launches satellites that help learn more about Earth.
• Develops space probes that study our solar system and the space beyond that.
• Researches ways to improve air travel and other aspects of flight.
• Sends exploration teams to explore the Moon and Mars.

Apart from these NASA aims at making public life better thus it also shares its findings with companies so that they can make use of NASA discoveries and create new spinoff products. It is recently collaborating with Space X to send astronauts to explore more of the moon as part of the Artemis program.

NASA Grant Program Highlights

Following are the NASA Grant Program Highlights:

• Space Grant: National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program (Space Grant, in 1989) is a network of colleges and universities that supports and improves science and engineering education, research, and public outreach.
• NASA Research Opportunities: NASA releases research announcements in various science and technology disciplines and selects research proposals to these research announcements.
• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs: NASA funds research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that have a chance for successful commercialization.
• International Space Station Funding Opportunities: NASA provides funding for International Space Station (ISS) research and development, payload development and processing, on-orbit operation, and much more.

Mission Timeline of NASA

There are countless missions that NASA has done. Following is the timeline and list of some of the most important missions:

• 1961: Freedom 7 was NASA’s first space launch that launched the 1st Alan Shepard to space.
• 1968: Apollo 8 spacecraft orbited the moon.
• 1969: Apollo 11 was the first moon landing mission.
• 1969 – 1972: 5 successful manned moon landings.
• 1970: Apollo 13 was a rescue mission Launched due to spacecraft exploding.
• 1972: Pioneer 10 was an unmanned mission to the solar system.
• 1972: The Space Shuttle was NASA’s first space shuttle launch.
• 1977: Voyager Mission.
• 1986: Challenger Launch exploded 73 seconds from launch and killed all the crew.
• 1990: Voyager Pale Blue Dot photo was taken at the request of Carl Sagan.
• 1990: Hubble Telescope was launched to photograph the stars in detail.
• 1996: Pathfinder Mission gathered data of Mars’s surface.
• 1998: International Space Station was an international joint venture space station.
• 2003: Spirit & Opportunity two Mars rovers were launched in search of water.
• 2012: Mars Curiosity Rover.