NASA is the space agency run by the United States to oversee American space exploration, research and technology. NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was founded in 1958 as a civilian agency for U.S. space exploration. Prior to 1958, the agency's progenitor was known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. NASA develops, builds and launches missions to study the Earth, moon and sun, as well as the entire solar system and beyond. The agency has its headquarters in Washington D.C., with major centers in Florida (the Kennedy Space Center for launches) and Houston (the Johnson Space Center, home of the astronaut corps). Other centers are spread across the country for scientific research, test flights and spacecraft manufacturing. NASA's current chief is Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who is leading the agency's mission of returning astronauts to the moon and sending them on to Mars. See the latest NASA news.
Related Topics: Apollo Program, China Space Program, Incredible Space Tech, International Space Station, Interstellar Travel
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Latest about NASA
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How China plans to put astronauts on the moon by 2030 (video)
China's human spaceflight agency has released a video detailing its plans for a first crewed mission to the moon, including progress on lunar hardware.
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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope mission — Live updates
Read the latest news about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
'Flame-throwing' Guitar Nebula's concert caught by Hubble and Chandra space telescopes (video)
NASA telescope spotted a glowing nebula that looks like a guitar shredding rapid pulses of stellar material through space like soundwaves through a packed concert stadium.
'Hidden black hole' devouring curious star exposed by new X-ray space telescope
In a "rite of passage," the JAXA/NASA X-ray telescope XRISM has mapped in detail Cygnus X-3, a curious binary system with a potential black hole feasting stellar winds blowing from a massive star.
NASA's nuclear-powered Dragonfly helicopter will ride a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket toward Saturn moon Titan
NASA has picked SpaceX to launch its Dragonfly astrobiology mission to the intriguing Saturn moon Titan. A Falcon Heavy will loft Dragonfly in July 2028.
'We didn't know what it was at first.' NASA aircraft uncovers site of secret Cold War nuclear missile tunnels under Greenland ice sheet
NASA scientists conducting surveys of arctic ice sheets in Greenland got an unprecedented view of an abandoned "city under the ice" built by the U.S. military during the Cold War.
