TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTERS Introduction 4 Space Race 7 The Final Frontier 17 Mission Control 27 A New Space Age 37 AGENCY INSIDERS Apollo Soyuz Test Project 12 Columbia Disaster 22 Valentina Tereshkova 32 Apollo 1 42 AROUND THE WORLD Mars One 15 European Space Agency 25 GPM Core Observatory 35 Earthrise 45 Glossary 46 Selected Bibliography 47 Websites 47 Index 48
Since its founding in 1958 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA has become a world leader in space exploration discovery and travel Spurred on by competition with the Sovi et Union the United States realized it needed an agency solely dedicated to developing space technology and overseeing its space efforts NASA was thus created to plan direct and conduct aeronautical and space activities In a special message to the U S Congress on May 25 1961 president John F Kennedy said Now it is time to take longer strides time for a great new Amer ican enterprise time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth NASA would indeed be the key to unlocking that mysterious enterprise in the decades that followed Without it people may not know what Mars looks like or how it is possible to conduct experiments in a space station Although its path has not always been smooth NASA continues to pursue its vision reaching toward new heights and revealing the unknown so that what it does and learns will benefit all
NASA's long running space shuttle program came to define the agency and make it visible to everyday
