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The acronym NASA that stands for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. When NASA is mentioned, most people tend to leave out the aeronautics part of the acronym, but what those people don’t realize is that NASA is involved in various projects on Earth. These missions include work on military and commercial airplanes, which have led to the developments of safer, more efficient planes. NASA has played an important role in the United States and people should know about it.
The beginning of NASA was the most important part of the United States’ entire space program. On July 8, 158, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which, of course, is NASA, which was to be headed by T. Keith Glennan. The bill called for a government agency where everything, whether it was a success or failure, was to be kept in open view of the public, and the goal of the administration was simply, “To explore the phenomenon of the atmosphere and space for peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind” (Vogt 10). With this, the United States finally had an agency truly committed to space and could finally compete with the Russians. NASA began full operation on October 1, 158, after the National Advisor Committee on Aeronautics was abolished. Getting a little head start, NASA inherited the committee’s facilities, laboratories, and personnel and immediately set to work planning its future. According to A Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Album of NASA, the first flight of administration used a chimpanzee to test the effects of space on living mammals, but the flight only lasted sixteen and a half minutes and landed over 10 miles from its target (1). Though this was a slight setback for the United States, it did not stop President John F. Kennedy from proposing a plan to go to the moon. Three plans were eventually developed on how to accomplish this task. The choices were to either send pieces of a shuttle into space one by one, assemble them there and then go to the moon, directly launch from the earth to the moon, or launch from Earth, orbit the moon, and then have part of the shuttle detach and descend to the moon (Vogt 18-1). The third option was decided on due to the fact that it was the cheapest. Obviously, NASA’s birth was essential for a U.S. space agency.
John F. Kennedy’s proposal of going to the moon soon led to the Apollo Projects of which Apollo 11 and 1 were the most famous. The shuttle for Apollo 11’s mission was composed of the Colombia and Eagle with a Saturn V rocket and remained in space for eight days, three hours, and eighteen minutes (“The Manned Flights” ). Having a crew consisting of Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., it was not only the United States’ first but also the world’s first manned mission to land on the moon. The landing occurred on July 0, 16 and was the site of Neil Armstrong’s famous words, “That’s one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind,” when he first set foot on the moon after over thirty orbits around the moon. While on the moon for two hours and thirty-one minutes, at the landing site Sea of Tranquility, a plaque with the inscription, “Here Men From Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon July 16 A.D. We Came in Peace For All Mankind” (“The Manned Flights” ) was placed to commemorate the first time man had ever set foot on the moon. Along with 11 there was Apollo 1 which was made of the Aquarius and Odyssey with a Saturn V rocket. The mission’s crew was James A. Lovell, Jr., John L. Swigert, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr. It was supposed to be the third lunar landing attempt, but the landing was soon aborted after an oxygen tank ruptured (“The Manned Flights” ). This ended up causing dangerous situations for the crew such as having two of the three electricity producing fuel cells stop because they had to use oxygen to produce the energy. The men had to put up with temperatures as low as thirty-eight degrees Fahrenheit and had to settle for only six ounces of water per day (Vogt ). At that time, the mission caused speculations on what could have gone wrong along with a search for answers. As one can see, Apollo missions 11 and 1 are the most well known Apollo projects of all.
Of course, NASA’s past has not gone without its upsets. Two of the most devastating ones were the Challenger and Apollo 1. As “Challenger the Deadly O-Ring” puts it, on July 8, 186 crew Francis Scobee, Judith Resnick, Ronald McNair, Michael Smith, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Ellison Onizuka and Gregory Jarvis boarded the Challenger space shuttle. Supposedly, during launch there was a problem in the Solid Rocket Boosters, which are used for extra lift. The booster’s two cylinders are stacked on each other and connected by O-rings which are flexible rubber tubes. Since the temperature was just about freezing, the O-rings hardened and did not flex during take-off causing one of the Solid Rocket Boosters to burn through its ring(1). The mission was apparently launched against recommendations not to, and flaws detected in the O-rings went ignored (Biel 50). Tragically, the shuttle exploded just one minute and thirteen seconds after launch. The explosion led to full-blown accusations of mission leaders on why they had not acknowledged the detected O-ring flaws and criticism towards the entire mission on grounds of needing better management. As mentioned before, NASA experienced another mishap with Apollo 1. “The Apollo Tragedy” says that on July 7, 167 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, the crew of Apollo 1, Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee entered the shuttle. Soon there was a short circuit under one of the member’s seats causing the fire. Under usual circumstances, the fire would not have taken place because, even though oxygen is highly flammable, it usually does not burn since our regular air is made up of eighty- percent nitrogen. Unfortunately, the shuttle’s air was made to simulate the air in space so it was basically filled with pure oxygen at full pressure. The spark from the short circuit lit the air which quickly burned through resulting in the capsule cracking and smoke rolling out of it. Since the crew was not wearing fireproof suits and the shuttle hatch took ninety seconds to open, all three crew members died. Due to the results of the mission, NASA made several modifications to its shuttles. The alterations included redoing the wiring in its space shuttles, changing the interior of the craft to be fire-proof, redesigning astronaut suits to be non-flammable, and switching the hatch so that it only took five seconds to open (1). Therefore, NASA has not gone without its share of misfortunes.
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NASA has not only had important projects in the past, but the administration is also working on current space missions. One of the most well known projects operating at this time is the Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope is a cooperation between the European Space Agency and NASA and is taken care of the Space Telescope Science Institute on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus in Baltimore. First thought of in the 140’s and built in the 170’s and 180’s, the Hubble was not actually put into use until the 0’s when it was deployed off the Spaceship Discovery on April 5, 10, 600 kilometers up in the Earth’s atmosphere (“General Overview of the Hubble Space Telescope” 1). Of course, the project did not go completely smoothly. Originally, plans called for the telescope to return to Earth, receive fixtures, and then relaunch with in-space fixtures every two and a half years, but this plan was eliminated in 185 when some structural concerns with Hubble were brought to attention (“General Overview”… 1). The plan was replaced by another plan in which there would be in-space fixtures every three years and this would help support the life of its fifteen-year design. The high-tech piece of machinery is composed of “three cameras, two spectrographs, and fine guidance sensors (primarily used for astrometric observations”” (General Overview… 1) along with a .4 meter reflecting telescope. All these gadgets are used in providing a far more detailed view of the universe. For example, Hubble is capable of seeing seven times further than the telescopes on Earth with a resolution that is ten times clearer. The telescope can be operated through an onboard computer, which is able to store up to twenty-four hours of commands and be logged on to by some of the lucky few scientists here on Earth to observe far off into space (“General Overview”… 1-). Clearly, the Hubble Space Telescope is one of NASA’s most significant current missions.
Besides the Hubble Space Telescope, the Space Station Alpha is an often overlooked project that should be known. “Space Station Alpha” says that at first, the space station was called Space Station Freedom and was started by NASA to create an orbiting workplace. Soon, though, the project became a joint effort between Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency. It was then that the station received its current name. Once the Cold War ended, which had been going on during the primary planning, the Russians wanted to participate. Tentatively, the United States made an agreement and accepted Russia into the mission. The Russians received a major role in the mission since Russia did have far more experience with their Mir Space Station than the United States did. Mir would serve as a cargo hold for material that would later be transferred to Alpha (“Space Station Alpha” 1). Along with the use of Mir, Russia provided two cosmonauts and a spacecraft that would be used to move between the two stations. Initially, when first proposed, the station had an estimated cost of eight billion dollars, but now the price has climbed to a staggering twenty to thirty billion dollars (1). The plan to build Alpha calls for an American shuttle to bring the first pieces of the station to Mir, and then Russian and American shuttle would bring more and more building materials to Mir. The coordination for this project is managed by the Johnson Space Center for the United States and the Kaliningrad Space Control Center for Russia. Kaliningrad will also serve as a backup control center in case the NASA systems experience any problems. The design for Alpha includes many laboratories and crew living modules that can be added on one by one. The station will get its power from the sun using solar panels, and when the sun is not visible, it will use batteries (“Space Station”… 1). Once completed, Space Station Alpha will allow scientists to stay in space for months and study the Earth as well as the effects of space on various objects. Truly, Space Station Alpha is a publicly ignored mission that people should recognize.
As busy as NASA is with all the current projects, the administration is constantly looking towards the future. One of the most promising missions concerns the X-vehicles which are launch vehicles being developed to send objects, government and industry, into space then return back to Earth in order to be reused. The advantage for this is tremendous. As of now, it costs anywhere from $5,000 to $0,000 for every pound of payload launched into space and the reason for this, “Costs are high because most launch vehicles are used only once--they burn up in space” (Lloyd 1). Even those that don’t burn up are becoming extremely expensive. The four current shuttles that NASA has in its possession are getting old and, with every return from a mission, costly components need to be replaced. Yet, even with the replacements, the current rocket launchers are only reliable 0 to 8 percent of the time. With the new vehicles, though, the cost and reliability will “decrease by a factor of 10” and “increase by a factor of 100” (Lloyd 1) respectively. This could mean missions to space without the cost, and an assurance of success. Another result from this mission is the possibility of more space missions. As of now, the Boeing Delta II rocket holds the record for five flights in 68 days (Lloyd 1), but with the new launchers, NASA hopes to be able to launch five flights in only three weeks meaning up to three times as many missions. The most likely X-vehicle to replace the shuttle is the X-. It is a one point two billion dollar project between NASA and Lockheed Martin. If all of the pre-launch tests go as planned, all the hopes of the project could be fulfilled as early as 005 (Lloyd 1). As this shows, NASA is regularly looking for tomorrow’s technology.
Aside from replacing its shuttles, NASA is planning more missions to the moon that are even more complex than previous ones. According to O. Morton and his article “To Boldly Go”, one major benefit from the moon is its abundant supply of helium- which could easily be mined and used on Earth. The mining would not even cost that much since it could be done by robots controlled from here on Earth. Once collected, the Helium- could be used to power nuclear-fusion reactors and provide clean nuclear energy. Since the Earth has no more than a few kilograms of this valuable material, the moon would be a perfect source to collects it since the moon has been gathering helium- from the sun for billions of years. Though some criticize the idea for its cost, helium- would easily make up for the money it cost to bring it to Earth once the product is sold. The base for the project could later lead to a base to launch satellites from because the Earth’s gravity would actually help the launch by reducing the amount of energy needed (-4). NASA is planning another mission to the moon that does not concern the helium-. This mission calls for building a moon base for which NASA already has detailed plans (“NASA’s Moon Base” 1). For now, a three stage plan has been created in order to complete the base. “NASA’s Moon Base” points out that in the first stage, NASA will send a lunar robot to study the moon’s surface. Following the robot, six astronauts will build the base and make it suitable for living. At last, NASA will improve the base and start making observations, and if everything goes how it’s supposed to, the base is expected to have a population of 100 by the year 010. With the completion of the base, NASA will be able send scientists to study outer space and have the capability to launch satellites with the same benefits of the other moon mission. Quite simply, NASA’s future moon projects will exceed all its previous ones.
NASA is hoping to explore and learn more about Mars and not just the moon. One plan is for the year 00 when NASA could launch the Mars Surveyor Orbiter. The orbiter is supposed to collect information on the planet’s climate and also look for any indication of water-related material. Other aspects of the missions will be to gather data on the terrain condition and look for indications of if water has ever been on the planet or if there is still water present (Savage 1). The Mars Orbiter’s instruments will include, “a very high-resolution imaging system, a moderate-to-wide angle multicolor camera, an atmospheric infrared sounder, a visible-to-near infrared imaging spectrometer, and ultraviolet spectrometer, and possible a magnetometer and laser altimeter” (Savage 1). All the instruments will be used to find data and send the information back to Earth for scientists to study. Even if the orbiter does seem like an excellent mission, it is not going unopposed for the spot of the 00 Mars mission. The other possibility is the Mars Mobile Lander. After landing on the planet and leaving its transporter, the 86 pound lander, like the orbiter, will have a goal of finding water-related material or traces of water that may have existed or is existing right now, but the lander will have an added task (Savage ). While only travelling 100 yards per day, it will also study the geochemistry and mineralogy of the surface. The lander will then either send statistics directly to scientists on Earth or relay the statistics through orbiting crafts (Savage ). With both missions seeming so promising, two teams, one at NASA’s Jet Propulsions Laboratory in Pasadena, California and the other at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado, will conduct separate studies as to which one of the missions is most likely to succeed, which is most valuable according to cost, and which one will be ready to launch in 00 (Savage ). These tests will ensure that nothing like the 165 million dollar Mars Polar Lander disaster occurs (Cowen 1). Either way, whatever mission is carried out will be a huge success and will allow NASA to learn a great deal about Mars. After all this, by 017, mankind’s first colony should be established (Kluger 1). Again, Mars is just one more place NASA is expecting to research and acquire more knowledge about.
NASA’s life has so far spanned over forty years of accomplishments and failures and today, the acronym has become associated with being the best in space travel. Certainly, all this credit is truly deserved. Not only has NASA become leaders of the world’s space exploration by being the first to reach the moon and now trying to move on to Mars, but NASA has also set the standards for today’s space agencies who seem to linger in the administration’s shadow. Hopefully, with all of its future plans, NASA will be able to stick around for at least another forty years and make many more great achievements.
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