The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the primary civilian space agency of the United States. Founded in 1958, NASA has more than 18,000 employees nationwide and an annual budget of $25B.
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The strategy, which runs until 2050, focuses on advancing space science, fostering technological innovation, and exploring habitable planets and extraterrestrial life, beginning with landing astronauts on the moon before 2030.
Beneath its frozen crust, Europa hides a salty ocean heated by tidal forces from Jupiter. This environment may resemble Earth’s deep-sea hydrothermal vents and allowed for the development of life over billions of years.
Sending humans to Mars in the following decades poses significant challenges, from the vast distance covered to get materials there to powering technology during weekslong dust storms. Research is ongoing to develop life support systems that can regenerate or recycle consumables.
The field incorporates observational missions to find and classify exoplanets—planets orbiting stars besides the sun—the probing of Earth's most extreme environments to learn what conditions allow life to exist, and theoretical and lab work to identify and analyze potential biochemical signatures.
The Apollo Program aspires to return humans to the moon—and to build humanity's first permanent habitat on its surface. The project involves complex construction plans, including creating roads from moon dust, baking bricks to build habitats, and more.
The space shuttle program was initiated by President Richard Nixon in 1972, and its first launch into space came in 1981. At the time, the spaceplane was the world's most complex aircraft, featuring the most sophisticated heat shield in history. The project sought to create a permanent human presence in space for the first time. This series explores everything related to the space shuttle.
This three-minute video overview explains NASA's ambitious test to slightly alter the course of an asteroid by slamming a fast-moving space probe into its surface. Scientists hope to one day, if needed, use the technique to protect Earth from an asteroid impact.
Want to know more about the Space Race? This article from the National Air and Space Museum dives into this intense Cold War competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Explore how the race transitioned from military rivalry to a quest for space exploration dominance, leading to milestones like the first satellite, Sputnik, and the iconic Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Originally built for a four-year mission, Voyagers 1 and 2 used a rare planetary alignment and gravity assists to reach interstellar space. With limited power and aging systems, they will continue to send data until the mid-2030s.
Decades in the making, JWST is designed to study the universe in infrared light, allowing it to see through cosmic dust and observe ancient galaxies, star formation, and potentially life-supporting exoplanets. The Webb will orbit the sun at a stable point 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
Since our ancient human relatives began using stone tools to perform tasks, humans have harnessed scientific knowledge and new technologies to expand the boundaries of our understanding of the natural world. From quantum computing and microplastics to artificial intelligence and memory, explore these topics and more with our concise yet informative overviews and expert-curated resources.