Politics & Government
Today in History: NASA Launched
On July 29, 1958, the U.S. Congress established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Without the National Aeronautics and Space Administration there would be no Neil Armstrong, no walking on the moon, or any other space advances.
On July 29, 1958, the U.S. Congress passed legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America's activities in space.
History.com says: "NASA has since sponsored space expeditions, both human and mechanical, that have yielded vital information about the solar system and universe. It has also launched numerous earth-orbiting satellites that have been instrumental in everything from weather forecasting to navigation to global communications.
Find out what's happening in Laguna Niguel-Dana Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
NASA was created in response to the Soviet Union's October 4, 1957 launch of its first satellite, Sputnik I. The 183-pound, basketball-sized satellite orbited the earth in 98 minutes. The Sputnik launch caught Americans by surprise and sparked fears that the Soviets might also be capable of sending missiles with nuclear weapons from Europe to America."
You can read comments here on various articles including NASA from Richard Bent of Laguna Niguel, who spent more than 20 years working on satellites and rockets for the aerospace industry.
