Research Rockets

         NASA, America's spaceflight research program, was started in 1958.  It was sparked by the Russians' launching of Sputnik, which was the first probe in orbit. NASA stands for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration. NASA has always been a strictly research program, and has contributed the most to America's knowledge of space. Its first major project was Project Mercury in which NASA attempted to put a man into orbit around Earth. Although the Russians accomplished this first, the US was close behind. Next in America's research program was Project Gemini. In this experiment, there was a two-man spacecraft launched into low earth orbit. The main purpose of the Gemini program was to perfect the technology of docking, where two spacecraft attach with an airtight seal. Again, the Russian space program beat NASA to this. For the next several years, NASA's goal was to have a manned mission land on the moon. The project was called Apollo. The Saturn V rocket, the largest rocket ever, was created explicitly for this purpose. On July 20, 1969, this rocket brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon, the first time in human history. Six Apollo missions were launched after this, but Apollo 13 failed to reach the moon. 

        Recently, NASA has built 5 Space Shuttles, two of which were destroyed in unfortunate calamities. They are the cutting edge of today's manned spaceflight, and have extended our scientific horizons far beyond what they were when NASA was created.
    

         NASA has also launched many unmanned research rockets and probes. Notable spacecrafts include the Pioneer and Voyager probes, both of which have explored our solar system to discover amazing facts and raise intriguing new questions. There are two Voyager spacecraft, which are now leaving our solar system at an unimaginable speed, carrying plaques with  messages that can be read by any intelligent life.  NASA has also placed the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit, which sends back images that challenge our view of the universe. The Mars Pathfinder landers have discovered evidence of water and possibly life that once existed on Mars. NASA even innovates science and technology on Earth with its numerous satellites in orbit. The NASA research program has given us far more than we have ever imagined, and continues to be a worthy investment in the field of rocketry.

Source - NASA History Office (http://history.nasa.gov/)