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NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Since February 2006, NASA's mission statement has been to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research." On September 14, 2011, NASA announced that it had selected the design of a new Space Launch System that it said would take the agency's astronauts farther into space than ever before and provide the cornerstone for future human space exploration efforts by the U.S.

NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The agency became operational on October 1, 1958. U.S. space exploration efforts have since been led by NASA, including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle....

NASA Launches Rocket Into Aurora, Further Proves Science Is Awesome

A NASA-funded team launched a rocket straight into an Alaskan aurora on March 3, for science. The mission, known as the Ground-to-Rocket Electrodynamics-Electrons Correlative Experiment, was designed to study how auroras form. The team camped out at ...

8 Facts About Space That Will Rock Your World

When you look up at the stars, what do you think about? That we may be not be alone? The vastness of it all? There's a lot to wonder about space. The fact is we don't know all the answers about it. We know it's vast and beautiful, but we're not reall...

Satellite Captures Stunning Swirl at Bottom of Globe

The stretch of ocean separating Africa, South America and Antarctica is one of the most treacherous places on the planet, with frequent storms and monstrous waves. On a recent overflight of the area, the European satellite known as Meteosat captured ...

Russia and U.S. Still Friends in Space, NASA Says

Astronauts who have lived on board the International Space Station have said that seeing Earth from orbit puts politics into perspective. However, NASA astronauts won't be making the call to sever ties with Russia's space program if the current geopo...

NASA Eyes Asteroids, Mars and Europa With $17.5 Billion Budget

NASA will likely venture out into the universe on a slightly tighter budget in 2015, but the agency is still putting its focus on sending humans to space. More than half of NASA's proposed $17.5 billion budget would go toward human exploration operat...

Humans on Mars: Who Will Be First?

We've landed rovers there. We've drilled holes into its rocks. We've even scooped up its soil and studied it to the most finite particle. But when are we finally going to put our own footprints on Mars? President Obama says we'll get a human to the R...

NASA's Real 'Gravity' Photos Will Blow You Away

NASA sure knows how to capture the endless beauty of real space. And on Sunday, the space agency decided to connect some of that epic reality with one of the films nominated for this year's Academy Awards. Hours before the ceremony, NASA tweeted out ...

NASA Discovers New Evidence to Suggest Water On Mars

The debate of whether or not water and life on Mars ever existed is back: a group of scientists believe they may have found evidence to support this theory. This new evidence is a Martian meteorite with a history of water movement, suggesting there m...

How Scientists Plan to Farm on Mars

In the coming decades, NASA has big plans for Mars, including intentions to blast a fifth rover onto the planet’s surface by 2020 and send a manned mission by 2030. But long before humans step onto Mars’ barren terrain, scientists and researchers fro...

NASA Finds That Spacesuit Near-Drowning Was Avoidable

A potentially deadly spacesuit water leak that nearly drowned an Italian astronaut during a spacewalk last July was one of the scariest close calls in NASA's spacewalk history. In fact, the spacesuit also leaked during an earlier spacewalk, but went ...

NASA Launches Major Climate Satellite

NASA and the Japan's space agency launched one of the most significant new weather and climate satellites in years on Thursday. Known as the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission, or “GPM," the spacecraft is meant to provide scientists with a new ...

Photos From Space: At Night, North Korea Goes Totally Black

Every night, the vast majority of North Korea goes totally black. South Korea and China burn with a reddish yellow glow, sandwiching North Korea so it looks like a body of water. The contrast stems from North Korea's lack of electricity. It produces ...

30 Stunning Images of Space

Though the study of astronomy predates recorded history, and physical space exploration has been possible since the 1950s, humans still remain largely in the dark about what's really out there. For all that we've discovered, astronomers estimate that...

NASA Pushes Back Against Bone and Muscle Loss in Astronauts

NASA signed two patent agreements with GRoK Technologies on Monday to help advance biotechnology innovations that could improve the health of astronauts working long-term at the International Space Station (ISS). Astronauts who live in space for mont...

Race to the 8th Continent: Google XPrize Revives the Lunar Landing

There are two things that separate Moon Express from the typical Silicon Valley robotics startup. Most notably, as the company's name suggests, its robot won't simply roam quietly over your carpet -- it will travel close to 240,000 miles before landi...

What It Looks Like When One Satellite Sees Another

There aren't many U.S. government programs -- even space programs -- like Landsat. Since the 1970s, the project's satellites have continuously imaged the surface of the Earth, providing the longest-running archive of Earth observation photography. Yo...

NASA Moon Probe Beams Lunar Photos to Earth

NASA's newest moon probe has beamed its view of the lunar surface back to Earth for the first time. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft (called LADEE for short) beamed the new moon photos -- which NASA released Feb. 13 -- to...

New NASA Photos Point to Water on Mars

New clues are emerging about the mysterious streaks that appear on Mars' surface during warm weather, though scientists still can't say for sure that they're caused by flowing water. The marks, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL), snake down some c...

Google Wins Contract to Lease NASA-Owned Historic Airfield

Google executives have been parking their private jets at NASA-owned Moffett Airfield since 2007, but now the company is poised to officially lease the Silicon Valley space. Planetary Ventures, Google's real estate subsidiary company, won a contract ...

NASA Wants to 3D Print Equipment in Space

The newest adopter of 3D printing isn't some hobbyist in a basement -- it's NASA. The agency is already building some of its customized spacecraft and instrument parts using 3D printing, and someday soon, astronauts might even make tools and replacem...

Every Winter Olympics Host City Since 1924 -- From Space

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center collected images of all the cities and surrounding areas that have hosted the Winter Olympics since 1924. Most of these photos were taken by satellites, but some are from astronauts who were living on board the Inte...

Curiosity Rover's First Photo of Earth From Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars has captured its first view of Earth from the surface of the Red Planet -- a striking image that shows our home planet as a bright light in the Martian sky, with the moon shining nearby. The Curiosity rover photographed...

ISS Astronauts Are Betting on Winter Olympics With Space Food

The 2014 Winter Olympics are about to begin in Sochi, Russia, and astronauts will be watching the games from their vantage point high above Earth on the International Space Station. The space station currently plays host to a crew of six internationa...

'Dream Chaser' Spacecraft Set to Blast Off Next Year

The private space industry is going to infinity and beyond -- or at the very least, into orbit. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems announced that their spacecraft will launch on Nov. 1, 2016 in an unmanned, orbital flight, with plans to la...

The Solar Eclipse You Could Only See From Space

The Sun and Moon decided to put on a show Thursday -- but only for the lucky few with good seats, in space. In what is known as a lunar transit, the Moon passed between NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Sun, giving the observatory a vie...

The Hunt for Killer Asteroids

A meteor exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia last year -- and it will happen again. A team of observers wants to make sure we're aware when it does.

London Students Discover Exploding Star in Nearby Galaxy

What started out as a 10-minute telescope lesson turned into something much more exciting, as a group of astronomy students at the University College London raced against encroaching cloud cover to document an amazing scientific discovery. On the nig...

NASA's Upcoming Space Telescope Looks Into the Universe's Past

Have you ever wished you could see pictures of the farthest corners of the universe? That could become a reality in a few years. NASA announced this week that it has completed the final review stage of its James Webb Space Telescope. "What that means...

The Stray Rover on the Far Side of Mars

PASADENA, Calif. -- Hanging over the stage at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium was a giant illustration of NASA’s Opportunity rover, its name blasted in big, celebratory block letters. It was supposed to be an event solely focused on the rover, which jus...

10-Year-Old Opportunity Rover Is Still Finding Crazy Stuff on Mars

NASA's Opportunity rover may have landed on Mars 10 years ago, but it's still sending valuable data to scientists on Earth. The rover's latest findings show that water once stirred rocks on the edge of the Endeavor Crater -- and it was suitable for l...

Watch Live: NASA's Relay Satellite Launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A fresh satellite for NASA's communications network is set for launch from Florida's Space Coast on Thursday (Jan. 23) to bolster voice and data links between mission control, the International Space Station and a fleet of orb...

Mysterious Mars Rock Looks Like Jelly Doughnut

A mystery rock on Mars that suddenly appeared in front of NASA's Opportunity rover may look like a tasty donut, but it is like nothing ever seen on the Martian surface before. The strange Mars rock was spotted by Opportunity on Jan. 8 in a spot where...

Saturn's 'Yin and Yang' Moon Shines in NASA Photo

Call it cosmic zen. Yin and yang appear to meet on one of Saturn's moons in a photo taken by a spacecraft exploring the ringed planet and its many moons. The new Cassini photo of Saturn's moon Iapetus shows the satellite's dark and light sides as com...
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