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Article: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
(NASA) is the unit of the federal government charged with operating the nation's space exploration and aeronautics programs. The administrator of NASA, an independent agency, is appointed by the president, subject to Senate confirmation. NASA came into existence on 1 October 1958, after Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, at the recommendation of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Many Americans had been highly alarmed when, on 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union put into orbit
Sputnik,
the first man-made satellite. In the midst of the Cold War, Americans feared that the ...