Space Exploration

Many people dont know about space exploration. NASA ( National Aeronautics and

Space Administration) was established in 1958. NASA was founded by Dwight D. Eisenhower.

As a result of the space race between the USA and the Soviet Union during the 1950s, NASA

was created from NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics).

Space exploration started when the soviets launched Sputnik I on October 4, 1957. Four

years later, Russian Lt. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth in Vostok I. John f.

Kennedy gave NASA the goal to send a man to the moon. They walked on the moon in the

Apollo 11 mission. Aeronautical advancement was desperately needed during the second world

war. Females were not very popular in space engineering. The first black computers were not

introduced until the 1940s. Though the needs of war were great, racial discrimination was still

strong and very few jobs were given to African-Americans. NACA (National Advisory

Committee) was built in 1917. It was meant to regulate space research. It was also replaced by

NASA. NASA got rid of the few remaining human computers in the 1970s. The west computers

were the heart of the centers improvements. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive

Order 8802, preventing discrimination in hiring for federal and war- related work. This order

cleared the war for the black computers to make their way into NACA history. Exactly how

many women computers worked at NACA is still unknown.

In 2011, NASA's Messenger spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury. In 2012, NASAs

GRAIL B spacecraft entered orbit lunar orbit. In 2013, NASA's Minotaur-5 rocket was sent

LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) into the lunar orbit. In 2014,
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft entered orbit around Mars. In 2015, NASA's Dawn probe entered

orbit around Ceres.In 2016, NASA's Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter.

In conclusion, space exploration is improving every year. NASA has many things planned for

years to come. This year, NASA's Solar Probe Plus is to conduct a flyby of Venus,

NASA plans to launch the first manned vehicle with a crew of four to the ISS, increasing the

crew size aboard the station to seven people, and NASA's Solar Probe Plus is to conduct a flyby

of Venus. Space exploration is expanding to other galaxies also.

Works Cited

Science Packet

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA, NASA, www.nasa.gov/. Accessed 25 Apr.

2017.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-black-women-
mathematicians-who-helped-win-wars-and-send-astronauts-space-
180960393/

https://www.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2009/06/01/10-things-you-
didnt-know-about-nasa

www.aerospace.org/education/stem.../space-primer/a-brief-history-of-space-
exploration/