CHAPTER 1 TO SPACE AND BACK BY the early 1970s astronauts had landed on the moon and studied its surface Many people thought space exploration would soon end But scientists were just beginning to explore space In 1972 US President Richard Nixon signed a bill that gave 5 5 million to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA This organization had been created in 1958 to control the United States activity in space Astronauts aboard a space shuttle took this photo of Earth 1990 in
NASA had sent astronauts to the moon as part of the Apollo missions Now it had a new project NASA would use the money to design space shuttles These reusable vehicles would take people into outer space and back again Scientists hoped the shuttles would make space travel easier safer and less expensive than ever before Designing a spacecraft that could be used multiple times was challenging A space shuttle needed a way to launch carry fuel and return to Earth But NASA scientists were already hard at work Between 1959 and 1968 they designed and built several prototypes Prototypes are early versions of inventions that are created to test an idea NASA used the prototypes to try out designs for space shuttles One was a rocket powered airplane known as the X 15 X 15s made 199 test flights During flights these
A NASA scientist tests a model of the X 15 by hanging it underneath a model of a bomber NASA learned about hypersonic flight The X 15's success helped NASA prepare to create a space shuttle NASA's space shuttle program officially began in 1972 The shuttle design had three parts main
