The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been in the forefront of scientific and technical advances, especially when it comes to anything involving air and space flight, which is why it is always exciting when the space agency shares images or videos of its endeavors.
NASA seems to be in a nostalgic mood in July, however, since the agency's Armstrong Flight Research Center has been uploading hundreds of historical videos of its various undertakings for the past decades on YouTube.
NASA's Inspiring Historical Archives
According to reports, over 500 videos were cleared by the agency for public sharing and the center has already uploaded about 300 of those on ARFC's YouTube page. Some have even been turned into a playlist.
The videos include documentations of NASA's various high-tech equipment, facilities and aerial vehicle constructions, time-lapse videos of space vehicles development, preliminary and various technical tests, test flights, controlled and unexpected crashes, educational videos explaining NASA technologies, and attempts at pushing the limits in aeronautics, among others.
Here are some of the videos from NASA/AFRC's YouTube page.
NASA's flight recording devices used in the 1950s
A short educational video about NASA and U.S. Air Force's joint effort to develop the Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology (ACAT)
1970s test flight of the X-24A's high altitude ascent
A 1984 Controlled Impact Demonstration (CID) of a Boeing 720 which did not go as originally planned
"It was not exactly the impact that was hoped for, but research from the CID program yielded new data on impact survivability which helped establish new FAA rules regarding fire prevention and retardant materials," NASA explained.
A short video documenting the damage to an X-15A-2 after setting a Mach 6.7 flight record
NASA preparing for a Mach 10 flight
A playlist containing videos of various space mission tests and undertakings
Why NASA Is Releasing Archival Materials
One would think that a huge, high-tech agency like NASA would want to ensure that its achievements will take the spotlight, but it is actually impressive that the space agency also wanted to share the painstaking steps that led to its successes.
Of course, giving the public a more holistic version of the agency's achievements is not NASA's only reason for releasing archival materials. One of AFRC's main purpose for releasing hundreds of footage is to really pique the public's interest and be more engaged in NASA's missions and vision.
"NASA has so much digital content that tends to be overlooked by the public, given the difficulty that exists in actually locating the content ... Our hope is that by moving the content to more accessible platforms, NASA fans and media personnel will be able to access the content more regularly and become more fully immersed in what is happening at NASA," AFRC social media manager Rebecca Richardson explained.
