NASA: A BRIEF ANALYSIS

NASA's official history as an organization began on 1 October 1958. The United States government had been engaged in 'ronautic research since 1915, and the government had been engaged in upper atmosphere research to advance technological knowledge and weapons development since the late-1940s (Garber & Launius, 2004). On 4 October 1957, however, the Former Soviet Union launched the Sputnik I, an action that frightened American politicians to the point that they declared that the Former

Soviet Union had opened a technology-gap that placed the United States at-risk. As a consequence, the United States Congress rather quickly by congressional standards enacted legislation enabling the creation of NASA, an organization that henceforth would coordinate all government 'ronautical and space-related research (National 'ronautics and Space Act of 1958, 1958).

In the period since its creation, NASA has experienced spectacular successes and equally spectacular failures, all of which are well known to Americans and to most people around the world. While NASA's most spectacular failures have also been tragic, to be fair to the organization, it must be stated that

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ement are as follows (NASA, 2005): Vision Statement: To improve life here, To extend life to there, To find life beyond. Mission Statement: To understand and protect our home planet, To explore the universe and search for life, To inspire the next generation of explorers à As only NASA can. Goals and Objectives NASA's goals and objectives enumerated in The New Age of Exploration: NASA's Direction for 2005 and Beyond (2005) are based on the organization's vision statement and mission statement as those statements are presented in the preceding section of this paper. With respect to goals NASA stated the following (O'Keefe, 2004): The fundamental goal of NASA is to advance the scientific, security, and economic interests of the United States through a robust space exploration program. In support of this fundamental goal, NASA will pursue the following goals: Implement a sustained and affordable human and robotic program to explore the solar system and beyond; Extend human presence across the solar system, starting with a human return to the Moon by the year 2020, in preparation for human exploration of Mars and other destinations; Develop the innovative technologies, knowledge, and infrastructures both to explore and to sup
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