What is NASA

NASA is one of the space agencies located in several centers and facilities across the United States. Its main headquarters is in Washington, D.C., along with some of its centers located at Kennedy Space Center (Florida), Johnson Space Center (Houston, Texas), Jet Propulsion Laboratory – JPL (Pasadena, California), among others.

NASA is responsible for developing scientific and technological research related to space, Earth and aviation.

Founded on July 29, 1958 during the Cold War, NASA was born in the Space Race, an event that emerged during the Cold War. It was precisely because of that war that NASA was created. Its goal is to Explore Space, Understand the Universe and Develop new technologies for the future.

The Future of Space Exploration

NASA is now focused on two major missions: Return to the Moon and Reach Mars. The Artemis Program aims to send the first woman and the thirteenth man to the Moon. The mission is scheduled for 2027. Some other major achievements of NASA that we cannot forget are:

• The Apollo Program (1961–1972) which was responsible for sending the first human to the Moon in 1969, on the Apollo 11 mission.
• Space Shuttle (1981–2011) was a breakthrough in reusable vehicles that made astronaut transportation and equipment easier.
• Hubble Space Telescope (1990) was a space telescope that revolutionized our way of seeing the universe. With it, we discovered new galaxies, planets, stars, exoplanets, and many other cosmic objects.
• Rovers such as Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance were a major achievement for NASA. Rovers are robots whose mission is to explore Mars. With these robots, we discovered many things — including even traces of life on Mars.
• James Webb Space Telescope (2021) this was an achievement that got even people outside of Astronomy excited. The James Webb Telescope is the most advanced telescope ever launched, and thanks to it we can observe the universe from billions of years ago.