124. Facts About NASA That Everyone Should Know

NASA is the space agency of United States of America and is similar to India’s ISRO. In the last article I shared some facts about ISRO. Today I’m gonna share some interesting facts about NASA –

1. Establishment Of NASA –

NASA was established in 1958 by Dwight D. Eisenhower and became functional from 1st October, 1958.

2. Apollo 11 –

You all read about Neil Armstrong in your textbooks, didn’t you? Neil Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins got to Moon on 20th July in 1969 with the help of “Apollo 11″ and while on 21th July Armstrong, Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon, Collins remained in the space shuttle. This mission was conducted by NASA.

(Aldrin On Moon)

3. International Space Station –

The International Space Station is a habitable space station orbiting the Earth. It was made by NASA and four other space agencies namely Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA and CSA in 1998.

4. Zero Gravity Test –

NASA will pay you $15,000/- for lying in a bed for 90days. During this period, you are granted access to Internet, TV and everything you need at just one condition and that is you can’t stand up or get up from the bed. Wanna give a try? Head over to their official website here – NASA Lying Around Test.

Picture Credit – NASA

5. NASA’s Yearly Budget –

NASA’s budget for the year 2015 stands at a whooping $18,010 million. Whereas ISRO’s budget for FY2015 is $1200 million.

6. Apollo 11 Tapes Were Erased –

Original raw footage from the Apollo 11 SSTV signal got erased by NASA in early 1980s as NASA was suffering from shortage of tapes. The tapes containing the raw footage was erased and reused.

(Raw Footage)

7. Curiosity –

Remember the name? I bet you do. Curiosity is the rover which was sent to the Mars aka the Red Planet by NASA back in 2011 and landed on Mars in 2012. The aim of the mission is to know Mars more and more for possible human exploration in near future.

8. The Learning Channel Or TLC –

TLC was first launched by NASA and US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as Appalachian Community Service Network in 1972.

9. New Horizones –

New Horizones was launched by NASA on 19th January, 2006 with the destination being set to “Pluto”. On 13th July, 2015, the distance between Pluto and New Horizon was the shortest and it took some photos of Pluto.

10. Voyager 1 –

Voyager 1 was launched by NASA on 5th September in 1977 to study our solar system. Till date, it is the farthest spacecraft from Earth with a distance of 1.97 × 1010 Kms. It is also the fastest spacecraft with a speed of 17 Kms/second.