Formation of NASA
July 29, 1958 · 20th Century
On July 29, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA absorbed the existing National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics along with its 8,000 employees, $100 million annual budget, and three research laboratories. The agency began operations on October 1, 1958, with T. Keith Glennan as its first administrator. Created in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1, NASA centralized U.S. civilian space research and exploration under a single federal authority.
Key Figures
Dwight D. EisenhowerT. Keith GlennanHugh L. Dryden
Locations
The White House, Washington, D.C.
Topics
Space RaceCold WarNASAspace explorationNACAEisenhower
Connected Events — 4 Connections
NASA managed the Apollo program that achieved the first crewed Moon landing in 1969 Apollo 11 Moon Landing
Launched by the space agency established in 1958, representing decades of NASA deep-space exploration Voyager 1 Crosses into Interstellar Space
The Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 created political urgency that led directly to the creation of NASA Sputnik 1 Launched
Goddard's 1926 liquid-fueled rocket pioneered the propulsion technology that NASA would later develop for spaceflight First Liquid-Fueled Rocket
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