October 1, 2018 - Happy Birthday, NASA

Happy Birthday, NASA  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was founded 60 years ago this week, but its heritage dates to the 1915 founding of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), whose mission “to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight” resulted in numerous advances in aviation. In 1958, the National Space Exploration Act gave NACA a new name and a broader mandate that extended beyond the atmosphere. NASA continues to evolve and redefine itself, making great strides in human space flight, planetary exploration, aeronautical research, and space-based astronomy. Coinciding with this anniversary is the projected October 2018 launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space telescope ever built.

Image credit: NASA/Desiree Stover

Weekly Calendar

October 1 - 7, 2018

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 1

1897: 40-inch refractor dedicated at Yerkes Observatory
1958: NASA founded
1962: 300-foot radio telescope at Green Bank goes into operation
2010: Chang’e-2 lunar spacecraft launched

Tuesday 2

Last Qtr Moon 5:45 AM ET

Wednesday 3

1935: Charlie Duke born
1942: First V2 rocket launched
1962: Mercury Sigma 7 launched
1967: X-15A-2 flies at mach 6.7
1985: STS-51J Atlantis launched

Thursday 4

World Space Week begins

1957: Sputnik 1 launched
1959: Luna 3 launched
2004: SpaceShipOne wins X Prize

Friday 5

Venus appears stationary
Mercury 2° north of Spica
Moon at perigee

1882: Robert Goddard born
1923: Edwin Hubble finds Cepheid variable stars in galaxy M-31
1962: European Southern Observatory founded
1984: STS-41G Challenger launched

Saturday 6

1990: STS-41 Discovery launched
1992: NASA and RASA sign Human Spaceflight Agreement to share astronauts and cosmonauts
2008: MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second flyby of Mercury

Sunday 7

Ceres in conjunction with Sun

1885: Niels Bohr born
1959: Luna 3 returns first images of the lunar far side
2002: STS-112 Atlantis launched
2010: Soyuz TMA-01M launched carrying ISS Expedition 25/26 crew