Happy Birthday! NASA celebrates 50 years

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A cluster of galaxies 2.3 billion light years away. Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/E.-H Peng. Optical: NASA/STScI

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Two interstellar 'twisters', one-half light-year-long, in the Lagoon Nebula. Captured by t...

Russell Schweickart on the fourth day of the Apollo 9 mission.
Image Credit: NASA/James M...

Space Shuttle Atlantis at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Ius Chasma, on Mars, as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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NASA celebrates 50 years
Image Credit: NASA

Article Summary

October 1, 2008 Cochlear implants, ultrasonically welded swimsuits, DustBusters, and freeze-dried food. You owe more to NASA than you think. Fifty years ago today, NASA’s employees turned up for their first day at work. One-hundred and fifty manned missions, $810.459 billion present-day dollars, and 382 kilograms of moon rocks later, the ripples from the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have influenced society and the development of technology in ways we rarely detect. Kyle Sherer takes a closer look at the history and major achievements of the last half-century.

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