Fifty years ago today, on July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which created NASA.
NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was formed to learn about and explore outer space.
The United States was committed to winning the so-called 'space race' against the Soviets who had shocked the world in October 1957 by launching Sputnik, the first satellite into orbit around the earth. The United States won the 'space race' eight years and billions of dollars later when Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module Eagle and onto the moon's surface on July 20, 1969.
Since the creation of NASA in 1958, NASA has sent astronauts to the moon and satellites to the farthest planets of our solar system. NASA has also sent robotic rovers to Mars and over a hundred Shuttle missions into orbit around the Earth. NASA is currently working with other countries to build a space station.