NASA Logo, Seal and Text Logo
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NASA Facts: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the NASA.
What does NASA stand for? NASA stands
for the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
When was NASA created? The date that
NASA was created on July 29, 1958.
NASA Logo:
The
NASA logo has three official designs - the
logo, the seal and the NASA text logo. The
main NASA Logo was designed by James
Modarelli and features a white orbital path
on a round field of blue orbital path with
white stars and the white NASA lettering.
The red chevron on the logo is a hypersonic
wing representing aeronautics. Although the
text logo with stylized logotype red curved
text (referred to as the "worm") has been
retired from official use since 1992.
NASA Facts
for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting information, history and
facts on NASA for kids. For even more dates and facts about NASA
refer to the
NASA
Timeline.
NASA
Facts for kids
NASA
Facts - 1: The story of NASA began when
President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a plan to orbit a scientific
satellite between July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958 as part of the
International Geophysical Year (IGY). The Soviet Union quickly
followed suit and announced plans to orbit its own satellite.
NASA
Facts - 2: The Americans
believed that their technology was more advanced than
the Soviets and were confident that they would launch
the world's first satellite.
NASA
Facts - 3: The USA was
stunned when the Soviets launched
Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to be sent
into space, on October 4, 1957. Sputnik 1, a small
aluminum ball with four long antennas measuring just 23
inches in diameter, marked the entry of mankind into
space.
NASA
Facts - 4: Sputnik-1
contained 2 radio transmitters, batteries, simple
optical instruments and a thermometer. The satellite was
invisible from Earth but Sputnik-1 made itself heard with a
simple series of beeps that were capable of being heard over the
entire world by anyone with an amateur radio set.
NASA
Facts -
5: Sputnik traveled
at 18,000 mph and took just 96 minutes to complete each
orbit of the earth. Its ‘bip-bip’ radio signals were a
constant reminder of the Soviet's presence above the
United States of America. Although Sputnik was played
down by the politicians, the American public reacted
with fear and alarm. Within a month the Soviets launched
a second satellite, Sputnik-2, which carried the dog Laika on board.
NASA
Facts -
6: Sputnik had
demonstrated that the Soviets were ahead in space
technology and many feared they were also advanced in
nuclear weapons technology. Sputnik began the
Cold War Space
Race between the Soviets and the Americans.
NASA
Facts -
7: On February 1,
1958, the United States of America successfully launched its own
first artificial satellite called the 'Explorer'
satellite under the
US Army's Jupiter project.
NASA Facts -
8: The spy satellite
missions that were run by the CIA and the military as
part of the Cold War Arms
Race would continue to operate an independent space program that
would work in parallel with NASA.
NASA
Facts - 9: The surprise
launch of the first Soviet Sputnik satellite and new
space technology prompted the United States to replace
the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)
with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA)
NASA
Facts - 10: The National Aeronautics and
Space Act of 1958 was sent to Congress on 2 April 1958 and was
signed into law 29 July, 1958. The new law provided for research
into the issues surrounding flight, both within Earth’s atmosphere
and in space.
NASA
Facts -
11: NASA, which stands
for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
was created on July 29, 1958 in order to coordinate
research in rocket science and space. It would achieve
many major accomplishments including the six Apollo moon
missions, the Space Shuttle, Skylab, the International
Space Station (ISS), the Hubble Space Telescope and
launching missions to distant planets in the Solar
system in which probes were sent to Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Pluto and Mercury.
NASA
Facts - 12: The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) absorbed NACA's 8000 staff and its three major
research laboratories consisting of the Langley Aeronautical
Laboratory, Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Aeronautical
Laboratory.
NASA
Facts - 13: NASA began its
operations on October 1, 1958 and the first spacecraft
launched by NASA was Pioneer 1 became the first
spacecraft launched by NASA on October 11, 1958 at Cape
Canaveral, Florida.
NASA
Facts - 14: Project Mercury (1959-1963)
began as the first United States human spaceflight NASA program rivaling
the Soviet Vostok program. There were US human spaceflight programs.
Project Mercury was followed by the Gemini project (1961 - 1966) and
the Apollo project (1969 to 1972).
NASA
Facts - 15: The NASA Astronaut
Corps began on 9 April 1959 to select and train
astronauts for Project Mercury. An advertisement for
military test pilots was posted attracting 500
applicants under 40 years of age. NASA Candidates had to be
less than 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) tall and weigh less
than 180 pounds (82 kg) in order to fit inside the small
space inside the Mercury spacecraft
NASA
Facts - 16: The NASA candidates
were subjected to a variety of tests and physical and
mental examinations. The stringent tests included
spending hours on treadmills, submerging their feet in
ice cold water. They were also subjected to five enemas
and three doses of castor oil!
NASA
Facts - 17: On April 9, 1959
names of the seven original American NASA astronauts were
announced. The names of the NASA 'Mercury Seven' were
John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper,
Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.
NASA
Facts - 18: The NASA 'Mercury Seven' undertook
rigorous training including weightlessness and zero-g
training, multi-axis spin tests, stress tests,
decision-making, desert survival training and water
survival techniques to train for splash-downs.
Continued...
NASA
Facts for kids
Facts
about NASA for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with facts about NASA.
NASA
Facts for kids
NASA
Facts -
19: The NASA Mercury Space
suits: NASA's first space suits were made for the
Mercury program. The silver colored, multiple layered
Mercury space suit was a full-body, high-altitude
pressure suit that was custom-made for each of the
astronauts. The material used to make the Mercury space
suits were two-ply silver nylon coated with neoprene.
Neoprene is a synthetic rubber with good chemical
stability and maintains flexibility over a wide
temperature range. The NASA space suits were modified
versions of the Navy Mark IV pressure suit and were
designed by Russell Colley, Carl F. Effler and Donald D.
Ewing.
NASA Facts -
20: NASA sent animals and insects
into Space to test the survivability of spaceflight before manned
space missions were attempted. On 28 May 1959 a NASA Jupiter missile was
launched that carried and recovered two monkeys after a
suborbital flight.
NASA
Facts -
21: Six of the of the
NASA 'Mercury Seven' astronauts went into space on
America's first human space flight program. Deke Slayton
was unable to make a space flight because of an erratic
heart rate. Deke Slayton later flew on the Apollo-Soyuz
Test Project in 1975.
NASA
Facts -
22: Each of the
'Mercury Seven' NASA astronauts following the pilot
tradition, each gave their spacecraft a name. They
selected names ending with a "7" to commemorate the
seven astronauts.
NASA
Facts -
23: On May 5 1961 Alan
Shepard in the Freedom 7, Gus Grissom flew on the
spacecraft Liberty Bell 7 on July 21, 1961, John Glenn
flew in Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962, Scott
Carpenter flew in Aurora 7 on May 24, 1962, Walter
Schirra flew in the Sigma 7 on October 3, 1962 and
Gordon Cooper flew on the Faith 7 on May 15-16, 1963.
NASA
Facts -
24: NASA astronaut
Alan Shepard was the first American to travel in space
in a suborbital flight on May 5 1961 in the Freedom 7
from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On February 20, 1962 John
Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in
his Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft.
NASA
Facts -
25: On 25 May 1961,
following Alan Shepard flight in space, President John
Kennedy made his "Urgent National Needs" speech,
committing the USA and NASA to land on the Moon by the
end of the decade.
NASA
Facts -
26: On September 19
1961 NASA Administrator James E. Webb announced that the
site of the Mission Control center dedicated to human
space flight would be Houston, Texas. It was called the
Manned Spacecraft Center but was renamed the Lyndon B.
Johnson Space Center in 1973. It was built during 1962 -
1963 and and the Mission Control was ready to usher the
Gemini Project into space.
NASA
Facts -
27: At NASA Mission
Control the flight controllers monitor the health and
safety of the astronauts and ensure that all spacecraft
systems are operating properly. The Director of Flight
Crew Operations communicated directly with the
astronauts.
NASA
Facts -
28: Telstar: On July
10 1962 the first of the Telstar privately built
communications satellites was launched. Bell Labs held a
contract with NASA, paying the agency for each launch.
Telstar was launched by NASA aboard a Delta rocket from
Cape Canaveral Telstar transmitted the first telephone
and television signals that were carried via satellite.
NASA
Facts -
29: The NASA Gemini
project extended the human spaceflight program to
spacecraft built for two astronauts. The sixteen
astronauts on the 10 flights of the Gemini project
provided more valuable information on weightlessness and
resulted in improvements in re-entry and splashdown
procedures. Project Gemini also demonstrated rendezvous
and docking in space.
NASA
Facts -
30: NASA Astronaut
Edward H. White II piloted the second operational Gemini
mission June 3-7, 1965 and performed the first spacewalk
by an American.
NASA
Facts -
31: On March 16, 1966
the NASA Gemini project saw Neil A. Armstrong and David
Scott perform the first orbital docking, successfully
coupling two spacecraft.
NASA
Facts -
32: On January 27,
1967 three of the NASA Gemini Project pilots, Gus Grissom, Ed
White, and Roger Chaffee, took part in a test run for
the launch of the first NASA Apollo mission. The three
men were in the command module, mounted on the Saturn
204 rocket, as if ready for launch from the Kennedy
Space Center. During the simulation a flash fire broke
out and the pure oxygen atmosphere of the capsule was
engulfed by fire. Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger
Chaffee, all died of asphyxiation. As a result of this
disaster the Apollo program was delayed until the
spacecraft could be redesigned.
NASA
Facts -
33: The NASA Apollo
program (1969 - 1972) followed Project Gemini aiming to
land the first humans on the Moon. The Apollo project
included both manned and unmanned space missions. Six of
the missions, Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17, landed
humans on the moon.
NASA
Facts -
34: The First Man on
the Moon was Neil Armstrong who traveled on Apollo 11
(July 16 – 24, 1969). NASA astranauts, Neil A. Armstrong
and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin walked on the Moon while the
third of the astronauts, Michael Collins, orbited
overhead in the Apollo command module. On July 20, 1969
Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words "That's one
small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
NASA
Facts -
35: Facts about the
six NASA Apollo missions that landed humans on the moon
are as follows:
NASA
Apollo Moon Landings Apollo 11: July 16 – 24, 1969
- Neil A.
Armstrong, Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin and
Michael Collins
Apollo 12: 14-24 November 1969
- Charles
Conrad, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean
Apollo 14: January 31- February 9,
1971 - Alan
Shepard, Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa
Apollo 15: 26 July 26 - August 7
1971 - David R.
Scott, Alfred M. Worden and James B. Irwin
Apollo 16: April 16-27, 1972
- John
Young, Thomas Mattingly II, and Charles
Duke.
Apollo 17: December 7-19 1972
- Eugene
Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt.
NASA
Facts -
36: Apollo 13: NASA
Astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. "Jack" Swigert and
Fred W. Haise survived one of the near disasters of the
Apollo program. Apollo 13 (April 11-17,1970) was 2
days and 8 hours into the flight when the oxygen
tank in the service module burst and damaged several of
the electrical and life support systems. Flight director
Gene Kranz and Mission Control heard the ominous words
of Jack Swigert when he said "Houston, we've had a
problem." All NASA crew members of Apollo 13 were able to
return safely to Earth.
NASA
Facts -
37: Skylab was one of
the first NASA projects following the Moon landings: On
14 May 1973 Skylab, a small orbital space platform, was
launched by the modified Saturn V rocket. Its goal was
to prove that humans could live and work in space for
extended periods. Skylab became home to three crews of
astronauts during 1973–1974. Each successive crew stayed
longer then the previous mission for periods of 28, 59,
and 84 days respectively.
NASA
Facts -
38: In 1975 the first joint US–Soviet space flight ended the Cold
War Space Race. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (July
15-24, 1975) entailed the docking of an American Apollo
Command Module (CSM) with a Soviet Soyuz
spacecraft. The Apollo flew with a three-man crew on
board consisting of Tom Stafford, Vance Brand, and Deke
Slayton. The Soyuz flew with two crew members, Alexey
Leonov and Valeri Kubasov.
NASA
Facts -
39: The Apollo-Soyuz
Test Project was the last manned US NASA space mission until
the first Columbia Space Shuttle flight in April 1981.
Tests on the first orbiter, the Enterprise had
demonstrated that the Space Shuttle could fly attached
to the Boeing 747 creating the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
The second orbiter of NASA's space shuttle program was
the Challenger. It was followed by the Discovery, the
Atlantis and the Endeavour.
NASA
Facts -
40: Guion S. Bluford
became the first African American astronaut on the NASA
Space Shuttle Challenger on August 30, 1983 .
NASA
Facts -
41: On January 1986
the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger, STS-51L, was
destroyed during its launch from the Kennedy Space
Center. The terrible accident was witnessed as millions
of people around the world saw the accident on
television. Its crew of seven, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee,
Michael J. Smith, Ronald E. McNair, Judith A. Resnik,
Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory B. Jarvis, and Christa
McAuliffe, were all killed. The last flight of the NASA Space
Shuttle Columbia (January 16, 2003 – February 1, 2003)
also ended in tragedy when it broke up in the atmosphere
15 minutes before its scheduled landing, killing all the
seven crew members.
NASA
Facts -
42: The Hubble Space
Telescope was launched from the NASA Space Shuttle Columbia
on April 24, 1990 providing the ability to observe
extremely distant space which cannot be seen from the
earth.
NASA
Facts -
43: The International
Space Station (ISS), a habitable artificial satellite,
was launched on November 20, 1998 to provide a platform
to conduct scientific research.
NASA
Facts -
44: In 1997 NASA began
the Earth Observing System launching a series of
artificial satellite missions in Earth orbit designed
for long-term global observations of the land surface,
atmosphere, biosphere and oceans of the Earth.
NASA
Facts -
45: In addition to the
manned space flight NASA has pioneered many missions to
distant planets in the Solar system sending probes to
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto and Mercury.
NASA
Facts -
46: On August 10, 2015
the first food grown and harvested in space, a crop of
red lettuce, was eaten by astronauts aboard the
International Space Station (ISS)
NASA
Facts -
47: On October 20,
2015 NASA launched a new website in which images taken
by their Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera can be seen
of the full, sunlit side of the Earth as it rotates
every day.
NASA
Facts for kids
NASA Facts
for kids: Animals in Space
Animals in Space: Experiments were conducted to test
the survivability of spaceflight before manned space
missions were attempted. The first space flights
involved animals and insects. The first insects sent
into space were fruit flies in a V-2 rocket on February
20, 1947. A rhesus monkey named Albert II became the
first monkey in space on 14 June 1949. NASA launched a
mouse into space on 31 August 1950 and Gordo, a squirrel
monkey, flew 600 miles high in a Jupiter rocket, on
December 13, 1958. The monkeys called Able and Baker
became the first monkeys to survive spaceflight after
their 1959 NASA Jupiter flight. Ham the Chimp was trained to
pull levers and was launched by NASA in a Mercury capsule aboard
a Redstone rocket on January 31, 1961 and demonstrated
the ability to perform tasks during spaceflight. The
NASA Biosatellite satellites were launched in 1966 and
1967 with a variety of life forms on board including
wasps, fruit flies, beetles, frog eggs, bacteria,
amoebae, plants and fungi. In later years the Space
Shuttles took other types of animals into space
including crickets, rats, frogs, newts, snails, fish,
sea urchins and jellyfish.
NASA
● Facts about NASA for kids and schools
● Summary of NASA in US history
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event in US history
● NASA space flight history
● Fast, fun facts about NASA
● Facts about NASA for kids and schools
● The history of
NASA for schools,
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