The USSR's launch of Sputnik 1 into low-Earth orbit on October 4, 1957 came as a complete surprise to the United States. The Americans, waking up the next morning, were surprised to learn that during the night Sputnik had flown over them four times, transmitting a stream of harmful radio signals. He sent signals for another three weeks until the batteries ran out.
The panic that this event caused in the world gripped the military and scientific community, especially politicians. Americans were taught to believe that the USSR was a technologically backward country. Therefore, the shock that provoked the “satellite crisis” was the result of intelligence errors and miscalculations space science. First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev, inspired by the concern of the United States and the world community over Sputnik 1, ordered the following launches. A month later, the USSR launched Sputnik 2. Its weight with scientific equipment is 508 kg. He also carried Living being- a dog named Laika.
UNFRIENDLY TEAM
In the United States, space has been explored by several centers. Wernher von Braun and his team of ex-fascist V-2 developers worked on the Redstone rocket in Huntsville (Alabama, USA), Laboratory jet propulsion in Pasadena (California, USA) was working on short-range tactical missiles, and the Navy was creating long-range missiles.
The greatest influence on the future development of US space project management was the National Aeronautics Advisory Committee, led by aeronautical engineer Dr. Hugh Dryden.
This committee experimented with the X-series aircraft, which were the only ones in the world that could carry a person at supersonic speed almost to the edge of space. The knowledge and experience gained from these studies proved crucial as the US moved closer to launch
the first astronauts.
A month after the launch of Sputnik 1, Dryden established the Special Committee on space technologies to bring together federal departments, private companies and universities research groups involved in rocket research into a coordinated space program.
Two years earlier, President Eisenhower had approved ambitious plans to launch an American satellite as part of the International Geophysical Year (July 1957–December 1958). The US Navy's Avangard project was chosen to launch the satellite instead of space project von Braun with the Jupiter launch vehicle, created on the basis of a modified Redstone. The upper stages of the Jupiter were even damaged to prevent von Braun from surpassing the Vanguard.
"JUNO" AND "EXPLORER"
In the panic over Sputnik 1, Eisenhower forced the Navy team to hurry. The President expected a clean, successful flight from the Avangard, which neither the Nazi V-2 rocket, nor the American Redstone, nor even the Soviet R-7 managed to achieve. However, the Avangard exploded on the launch pad in front of journalists from all over the world.
The von Braun orbiter project was restarted a month before the unsuccessful launch of the Avangard. His Jupiter rocket, also known as Juno, was soon ready for launch.
Meanwhile, a team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led by William Pickering, worked on Explorer 1, the first of many satellites assembled at the laboratory. The Juno launch was successful, and Explorer 1 entered orbit on January 31, 1958.
THE BIRTH OF NASA
The experience gained in the winter of 1957 had a sobering effect on the United States. National Aeronautics Advisory Committee Director Hugh Dryden and scientists from the United States Satellite Committee began lobbying for a "Space Energy Program" run by a civilian agency as part of the International Geophysical Year. Dryden, naturally, proposed his candidacy for the post of its head.
IN next year Eisenhower presented the idea of creating a national space agency to Congress, and on July 29, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act.
National Aeronautics and Research Administration outer space(NASA), officially founded on October 1, 1958, absorbed the National Aeronautics Advisory Committee, including its 8,000 employees, three research laboratories and a hundred million budget (according to modern times- about half a billion dollars).
NASA also inherited the Naval Research Laboratory, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Huntsville equipment, and von Braun and his "rocket" team. To the surprise of many, Dryden turned down the position of NASA director, which was given to Keith Glennan. Dryden became his deputy.
NASA entered the space race in an effort to close the gap with the USSR. At Christmas 1958 American satellite SCORE delivered a pre-recorded message to the world from Eisenhower. In October 1960, Courier-1B, the predecessor of modern satellites communications. But the space race was no longer limited to satellites.
RACE FOR SPACE
In 1959, NASA launched the Mercury program, the sole purpose of which was to put humans into space. The plan was built around a team of experienced military pilots, the Mercury Seven.
While von Braun and his team were trying to adapt the Redstone rocket to carry the Mercury capsule with an astronaut on board, the pilots of the X-15 rocket plane were flying 80,000 m above the Earth - the closest altitude to space that could be reached. take the plane.
The aeromedical monitoring devices that were attached to the pilots were provided by NASA scientists important information about how a person copes with physical and psychological stress at supersonic speeds. One of the X-15 pilots was Neil Armstrong, who took the first steps on the moon.
In April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, orbiting the Earth and returning successfully. That same year, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space, but his flight was suborbital. John Glenn became national hero USA, when next year it orbited our planet three times.
GOAL - MOON
Despite its successes, the United States continued to lag behind the Soviet Union in the space race. Then Dryden turned to the young and energetic President John F. Kennedy with a proposal to organize a manned flight to the Moon, which would be in a great way surpass the USSR. A month later, Kennedy announced an ambitious plan to land a man on the moon before the end of the current decade.
The Mercury program was followed by the Gemini mission, and then the Apollo mission, which received greatest achievement von Braun - the giant Saturn 5 rocket. In July 1969, six months before Kennedy's deadline for implementing the plan, NASA won the race to the Moon. However, Dryden did not live to see this moment. He died in 1965.
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(Charles F. Bolden, Jr.)
(Lori Garver)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration(English) National Aeronautics and Space Administration , abbr. NASA listen)) is an agency belonging to the US federal government, reporting directly to the Vice President of the United States. Responsible for the country's civil space program.
Images and videos obtained by NASA and its affiliates, including from numerous telescopes and interferometers, are released in the public domain and may be freely copied.
Story
Apollo
Skylab
Augustine Commission
The commission's main conclusion was that without a significant increase in its budget, NASA would not be able to implement all of its plans outlined in the Constellation program.
The report expressed support, from the point of view of space flight safety, for the continuation of work on the Constellation program. Commercial companies do not have experience in organizing manned space flights and do not meet the requirements for the safety of manned spacecraft.
Refusal to continue the Constellation program
After "Constellation"
On February 1, 2010, US President Barack Obama submitted a draft budget for 2011 to Congress (the US fiscal year begins on October 1). Based on the findings of the Augustine Commission, President Obama proposes to abandon the manned Constellation program, that is, to abandon the return to the Moon. Since 2004, when former US President George W. Bush announced a new US strategy in space, which included, as part of the Constellation program, the creation of the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, a new manned spaceship Orion, the Altair lunar module, NASA spent almost $9 billion. The budget for 2011 and 2012 allocates another 2.5 billion to wind down the Constellation program.
President Obama's 2011 budget message will require NASA to reorganize its operations. NASA's activities focus on the development of new technologies.
Budget 2011
The 2011 budget message noted that compared to the 2010 budget, NASA's budget over five years (2011-2015) will be increased by total by $6 billion, NASA's budget will be more than $100 billion over those five years.
NASA's main activities for the next five years:
- Development advanced technologies and demonstrating new approaches to space exploration ($7.8 billion over five years).
- Creation of fuel storage facilities in space for refueling space systems. These systems are supposed to be used for flights beyond Earth orbit. It is understood that, for example, to fly to the Moon there is no need to launch a super-heavy rocket. A relatively light rocket launches from Earth, is refueled at orbital fuel storage facilities and flies further to the Moon or Mars.
- Development and creation of automatic rendezvous and docking systems.
- Creation of inflatable modules as the basis for organizing habitable bases in space.
- Creation of life support systems with a closed cycle in space.
- Support for small ones (value up to $100 million) short-term projects, to which, on a competitive basis, commercial, scientific and international organizations can be involved.
- Development of resource utilization technologies celestial bodies, including for the production of fuel for space systems.
- Development of robotic space systems that will carry out predecessor missions in the solar system ($3.0 billion over five years).
- Development and creation, under the leadership of NASA, of interplanetary automatic stations for flights to the Moon, to Mars, to the satellites of Mars, to the Lagrange point, to asteroids with the task of reconnaissance of targets for future manned flights from the point of view of risk, as well as availability useful resources necessary for human expansion in space.
- Flights to the Moon or asteroids and demonstration of the use of the resources of celestial bodies for various purposes are possible.
- Development of heavy launch vehicles and propulsion technology ($3.1 billion over five years).
- Development and creation missile systems next generation in order to reduce the cost and time of creation of future heavy missile systems. Cooperation with commercial enterprises, scientific and international organizations is possible.
- Commercialization space activities in the US ($6.1 billion over five years).
- Support for the creation of cargo and manned spacecraft by commercial companies on a competitive basis.
- Modernization of the Kennedy Space Center after the cessation of shuttle flights ($1.9 billion over five years).
- Improving the operational efficiency of the center and reducing launch costs spacecraft NASA and other users.
- Extending the service life of the International space station and expansion applied research on it ($15.3 billion over five years).
- Support for extending the operation of the ISS until 2020.
- Accelerate climate change research and observation satellites ($10.3 billion over five years).
- Monitoring carbon concentrations in the atmosphere to understand its impact on climate change.
- Accelerating the development of climate change satellites.
- Modeling climate change to improve forecasting.
- Planetary exploration ($7.9 billion over five years).
- Astrophysics ($5.6 billion over five years).
- Exploring the Sun ($3.4 billion over five years).
- Creation of the next generation of aviation that causes the least damage to the environment (“green aviation”) ($2.95 billion over five years).
- Development of NASA and its centers ($18.3 billion over five years).
- Education ($0.73 billion over five years).
- Completion of the Constellation program ($1.9 billion in 2011 + $0.6 billion in 2012).
It is unclear from the budget what specific missions in the field of manned flights will be assigned to NASA. Perhaps a flight to the moon within the framework of the “flexible path of development” (Flexible Path, FlexPath) proposed by the Augustin Commission.
Prospects for US manned space exploration
The goals set for NASA in the draft budget for 2011 and the next four years are not based on any time frame. For the first time, NASA does not have a specific, time-bound human flight program. The Augustin Commission concluded that the Orion manned spacecraft being created under the Constellation program would not have flown before 2017. The current NASA administration hopes that private companies can send American astronauts before this date. Although, there are currently no specific plans in this regard.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says: “I disagree with those who say we have given up on human spaceflight. I think we'll get back to manned flight perhaps faster than if we continued previous work. If we want to go to Mars, then with new technologies we will be there in days, not months."
This law determined the budget for NASA for 2011 ( budget year in the US begins on October 1) in the amount of $19 billion. The budget stipulated that manned flights into low-Earth orbit, in particular the delivery of crews to the ISS, should be carried out by commercial companies. NASA finally abandons the Constellation program. NASA is tasked with speedily developing a heavy rocket and corresponding spacecraft for flights beyond low-Earth orbit. The heavy rocket should be ready for flight by 2016.
The NASA Act does not provide for flights to the Moon. NASA's priority is flights into deep space, in particular, flights to Mars or one of the asteroids. The law confirms the extension of the ISS operational life until 2020.
The 2011 budget provided funding for an additional shuttle flight, Atlantis STS-135, in June 2011.
NASA budget for 2013
The 2013 budget provides for research under a program to study outer planets Solar System (Outer Planets Flagship), including the development of technologies to improve the radiation resistance of scientific instruments, reduce the mass and increase the energy efficiency of spacecraft, and increase the landing accuracy for in situ research. Funds will also be allocated for preparatory research for future spacecraft designed to study Uranus and Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Agency budget
NASA has the largest budget of any space agency in the world. From 2008 to 2008, NASA spent about $810.5 billion on space programs (adjusted for inflation).
Agency management
Since 2005, the head of NASA has been Michael Griffin. On January 20, 2009, he resigned from his post due to the election of the new US President Barack Obama. On January 22, 2009, Chris Scolese was appointed interim head of NASA. On July 15, 2009, the US Senate confirmed Major General Marine Corps retired, former astronaut Charles Bolden.
Research centers, construction and launch of facilities
- Center space flights Marshall: is one of the largest scientific- research centers NASA on rockets and spacecraft.
- Kennedy Space Center: development of shuttle functional components and launch procedures.
The official day of the creation of NASA, or as this abbreviation stands for - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is considered to be October 1, 1958, but the order for the creation of this organization was signed American President Dwight David Eisenhower a little earlier, almost two months before this date - July 29. Replacing several government organizations, the oldest of which has been in existence since 1915, this management continues to thrive today.
Briefly about the birth of the organization
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an adapted, one might say, literary translation of the name of the government agency.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration or abbreviated as NASA (NASA) stands for in Russian as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, if translated literally. This organization was created during the race with the USSR for space exploration, as a response to the launch Soviet Union the first man-made satellite.
The oldest of the departments that replaced new structure, there was a National Advisory (aka advisory) Committee on Aeronautics, its history began back in 1915. The most recent of the projects, whose functions were partially transferred to NASA, was the DARPA agency - the Advanced Research Projects Agency. research projects US Department of Defense, created in February 1958 and also actively working now.
What NASA is presenting today
Now NASA (in Russian - NVKA, to be precise) is a US agency actively working in the field of civil space exploration.
It reports directly to the vice-president of the country and the government.
The headquarters is located in Washington DC. For practical scientific activity Several research centers and cosmodromes have been created. The number of employees has reached almost 19,000 people, and the government funds the organization with huge sums. In 2017, NASA's budget was almost $20 billion.
The results of research and observations of the Aeronautics Directorate are not secret and are available for copying, being considered public domain. You may not know what NASA stands for, but almost every person has heard about the direction of the organization’s activities hidden behind this abbreviation.
Everyday life of the Space Research Directorate
All research and aerospace centers, to one degree or another, work on four main, strategic important areas:
- space exploration;
- exploration of the Earth on a planetary scale;
- people, including the development of tracking and control equipment;
- Creation technical base for the implementation of new projects.
The organization has won a prestigious international award - Golden medal Supreme Council for scientific research and many more truly important achievements.
There are also sad pages in NASA history - the death of 14 astronauts during two unsuccessful shuttle launches.
Due to these incidents and high cost developments in space industry, which significantly slows down and complicates the process, twice in its history the US National Aeronautics Administration was left without operational manned spacecraft, and was forced to cooperate with Roscosmos.
That is why, since 2016, the Russian language has been included in the training program for American astronauts. So now US space pilots will be able to independently read and find out how NASA is deciphered in Russian.
Contact with an alien civilization: was it or not?
A story from 20 years ago, not refuted, but never confirmed.
According to Russian source, almost simultaneously, two magazines published information that in 1998 NASA received a coded signal from alien civilization. An international team of specialists worked to understand it.
It took many years to decipher it (about 13 reportedly) and when the message was finally decoded, it turned out that 80,000 years ago highly developed civilization, living outside our Galaxy, reported that she was in distress, asked for help and gave the coordinates of her planet.
This signal also indicates that the sender has limited opportunity interplanetary movements. Allegedly, the development of aliens reached its apogee at the dawn of human life, and ultimately turned into a cataclysm on a planetary scale.
The call for help came too late to NASA employees, and how this message was deciphered was very much a mystery. for a long time, therefore, even the very fact of such contact was hidden from the public, in order to avoid unnecessary mass unrest.
What is this? Fake intended to glorify information portals, and perhaps influence the consciousness of people striving to create more and more powerful weapons, or information classified for the time being? For now we can only guess.
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, popularly simply a space agency. NASA is a US-owned agency, and as one of the most progressive space agencies in the world, its developments, research and missions are followed by excitement around the world. Not long ago, NASA landed the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars, and by 2030, NASA plans to launch the first manned mission to the Red Planet. The American space agency has the largest budget of any similar agency in the world: over fifty years, NASA has spent about $810.5 billion on space programs.
Main materials
The NASA aerospace agency's lander is equipped with special tool HP3 (Heat and Physical Properties Package), designed for drilling Martian soil to a depth of five meters and studying the heat flows of Mars. February 28 installation
NASA- The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency owned by the US federal government and responsible for the country's civil space program.
All images and video materials obtained by NASA and its divisions, including using numerous telescopes and interferometers, are published in the public domain and can be freely copied, that is, there is no copyright protection.
NASA was created on July 29, 1958 as part of the space race"after the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite Earth. Earlier, in February of the same 1958, the DARPA agency was created, many of whose projects were transferred to NASA.
The 2011 budget message noted that compared to the 2010 budget, NASA's budget over five years (2011 - 2015) will be increased by a total of $6 billion, during these five years NASA's budget will be more than $100 billion.
NASA's main activities for the next five years:
* Development of advanced technologies and demonstration of new approaches to space exploration ($7.8 billion over five years).
o Creation of fuel storage facilities in space for refueling space systems. These systems are intended to be used for flights beyond low-Earth orbit; it is understood that, for example, to fly to the Moon, there is no need to launch a super-heavy rocket. A relatively light rocket launches from Earth, is refueled at orbital fuel storage facilities and flies further to the Moon or Mars.
o Development and creation of automatic rendezvous and docking systems.
o Creation of inflatable modules as the basis for organizing habitable bases in space.
o Creation of life support systems in space with a closed cycle.
o Support for small (cost up to $100 million) short-term projects, to which commercial, scientific and international organizations can be involved on a competitive basis.
o Development of technologies for using the resources of celestial bodies, including for the production of fuel for space systems.
* Development of robotic space systems that will carry out the mission of their predecessors in solar system($3.0 billion over five years).
o Development and creation, under the leadership of NASA, of interplanetary automatic stations for flights to the Moon, to Mars, to the satellites of Mars, to the Lagrange point, to asteroids, with the task of reconnaissance of targets for future manned flights, from the point of view of risk, as well as the availability of useful resources necessary for human expansion in space.
o Possible missions to the Moon or asteroids and demonstration of the use of the resources of celestial bodies for various purposes.
* Development of heavy launch vehicles and propulsion technology ($3.1 billion over five years).
o Development and creation of next generation missile systems, in order to reduce the cost and time of creation of future heavy missile systems. Cooperation with commercial enterprises, scientific and international organizations is possible.
* Commercialization of space activities in the United States ($6.1 billion over five years).
o Support for the creation of cargo and manned spacecraft by commercial companies on a competitive basis.
* Modernization of the Kennedy Space Center after the cessation of shuttle flights ($1.9 billion over five years).
o Improve the center's operational efficiency and reduce launch costs for NASA and other users' spacecraft.
* Extending the life of the International Space Station and expanding applied research there ($15.3 billion over five years).
o Support for extending the operation of the ISS until 2020.
* Accelerate climate change research and observation satellites ($10.3 billion over five years).
o Monitoring carbon concentrations in the atmosphere to understand the impact on climate change.
o Accelerate the development of climate change satellites.
o Climate change modeling to improve forecasting.
* Planetary exploration ($7.9 billion over five years).
* Astrophysics ($5.6 billion over five years).
* Study of the Sun ($3.4 billion over five years).
* The next generation of aviation that causes the least damage to the environment (“green aviation”) ($2.95 billion over five years).
* Development of NASA and its centers ($18.3 billion over five years).
* Education ($0.73 billion over five years).
* Completion of the Constellation program ($1.9 billion in 2011 + $0.6 billion in 2012).
It is unclear from the budget what specific missions in the field of manned flights will be assigned to NASA. Perhaps, after all, a flight to the moon within the framework of the “flexible path of development” (Flexible Path, FlexPath) proposed by the Augustin Commission.
Since 2005, the head of NASA has been Michael Griffin. On January 20, 2009, he resigned from his post due to the election of the new US President Barack Obama. On January 22, 2009, Chris Scolese was appointed interim head of NASA. On July 15, 2009, the US Senate confirmed retired Marine Major General and former astronaut Charles Bolden as head of NASA.
According to NASA plans, the agency will not have a single manned spacecraft for five years: all shuttles are planned to be retired in 2010, and the appearance of the new Orion spacecraft with the Ares I launch vehicle is planned for 2015. During all this time, American astronauts will be carried by Roscosmos.