NASA is 60 years old and to celebrate its birthday, the space agency released a video remembering highlights from its six decades of existence.
Happy Birthday, NASA
On Oct. 1, Monday, NASA released "60 Years in 60 Seconds," featuring photos of astronauts in space, astronauts on the International Space Station, rovers on the surface of Mars, spacecraft drifting over Earth's neighboring planets, and the moments in between. Of course, it also has a shot of a footprint and the American flag on the moon.
NASA first opened its doors on Oct. 1, 1958, two months after U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower had signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act. Its first-ever administrator is T. Keith Glennan who served the agency until 1961.
Although it was created to flex the United States's technological supremacy against the Soviet Union, part of the Act was to cooperate with other nations to pursue projects and apply findings under the agency.
"The United States wanted to make it clear that our space program was a civil effort and scientific effort," shared Bill Barry, NASA's chief historian.
Since it opened its doors, the space agency has sent 12 men to the moon, numerous probes, and rovers reaching the edge of the Solar System and beyond.
Future Of NASA
Today, NASA is led by Jim Bridenstine, the 13th administrator of the agency. In a video, he also spoke about the legacy of the space agency and its next milestones in the coming years.
"Over six incredible decades, we've brought the world an amazing number of bold missions and science and aviation and human exploration," he said. "NASA, and its workforce, have never failed to raise the bar of human potential or to blaze a trail into the future. And we are still doing it."
Over the course of 60 years, NASA has changed the world and how humans perceive the universe. It will continue to make groundbreaking discoveries in the next few decades, with plans to establish the presence of the human race farther into space.
Thanks to the directive of U.S. President Donald Trump, the space agency has taken its first steps into the new age of human exploration. NASA has already unveiled plans to create a Lunar Outpost that will eventually allow man's return to the surface of the moon. NASA is also on the first stages of the ambitious plan to send its astronauts for the first time to explore Mars.
Watch the NASA's 60th-anniversary videos below.
