Concept in Definition ABC

NASA is an American agency dedicated to space exploration. Its acronyms correspond to the term in English National Aeronautics and Space Administration (in Spanish, Administration National Aeronautics and Space).

NASA was founded in the late 1950s as a response by Americans to the beginning of the race spacecraft of the Soviets, who launched Sputnik, the first satelite artificial. In this way, both countries staged during the following decades the so-called special race (space race) in the context of the cold War.

Strategic projects of global impact and significance

Throughout its history, NASA has promoted some space programs with high strategic value. The Mercury Programs had the purpose of studying the possibility that man inhabited other planets. The Gemini Program was the preamble to the Apollo Program, the draft of sending a man to the Moon (which was successfully completed in 1969). The Apollo Program had several missions, which were oriented to research on very diverse topics: on

Energy sources, seismology, magnetic fields, solar storms, meteorology, etc. The set of investigations resulted in advances in different fields, especially in the field of telecommunications, computing and engineering.

Failed projects

The NASA story also incorporates a list of failures. Apollo l had an accident in 1967 and the astronauts who manned the spacecraft died. The Challenger shuttle disintegrated upon takeoff in 1968. In 2003 another space shuttle, Columbia, had an accident when it came into contact with the Earth's atmosphere after a mission of several weeks.

The Apollo XII mission intended to reach the Moon in 1970 but had serious technical problems; However, thanks to the expertise of its crew, a great catastrophe was prevented and all its members were able to return to Earth (this episode was taken to movie theater in the famous film Apollo Xlll).

The hidden face of NASA

NASA's activity has raised many misgivings. For this reason they speak of their hidden side, that is, unofficial intentions that are kept secret. The supposed secrets of NASA are very varied: human constructions on the Moon dating back to ancient times, contact with aliens or missions for unknown purposes. There are also investigations that comment on the restricted information of NASA (Area 51 is the name given to the department with confidential projects).

Topics at NASA