National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Astronautics History

Key Documents in the History of Space Policy

• National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, Unamended
• National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, As Amended
• Recommendations to NASA Regarding a National Civil Space Program, October 1958
• Long Range Plan of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, December 1959
• Report of the Ad Hoc Panel on Man-in-Space, December 16, 1960
• Report to the President-Elect of the Ad Hoc Committee on Space, January 10, 1961
• Key Documents from Project Apollo, 1961-1969
• The Post-Apollo Space Program: Directions for the Future, September 1969
• Presidential Directive/NSC-37, "National Space Policy", May 11, 1978
• Presidential Directive/NSC-42, "Civil and Further National Space Policy", October 10, 1978
• Report of the Presidential Transition Team, NASA, December 19, 1980
• NSDD-42, "National Space Policy", July 4, 1982
• NSDD 5-83, "Space Station", April 11, 1983
• "Presidential Directive on National Space Policy", February 11, 1988
• Principal Recommendations of the Augustine Commission, December 1990
• National Space Policy Directives, 1989-1992
• National Space Technology Council Presidential Decision Directives, 1993-1995

NASA Human Spaceflight Programs

• Mercury
• Gemini
• Apollo
• Skylab
• Apollo-Soyuz
• Space Shuttle

Major NASA Planetary Probes

• Mariner: Series of planetary spacecraft flown between 1962 and 1975.
• Pioneer 10: Jupiter flyby, 1972-1973, continued outside the Solar System thereafter.
• Pioneer 11: Jupiter and Saturn flyby, 1973-1979, continued outside the Solar System thereafter.
• Viking 1 and 2: Mars landers and orbiters, 1975-1983.
• Pioneer Venus 1 and 2: Venus probes, 1978, mapped the planet's surface, imaged its cloud systems, and explored its magnetic environment.
• Voyager 1 and 2: Grand Tour of the outer Solar System that imaged Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, launched in 1977 and it is still traveling outward.
• Magellan: Venus probe that made the most highly detailed maps of the planet using sophisticated imaging radar, 1989-1990.
• Galileo: Mapping mission to Jupiter, also imaged Moon and asteroids, 1989-present.
• Explorer: A listing of varied missions carrying the designation Explorer, conducted between 1958 and the early 1980s.

Major NASA Lunar Probes

• Pioneer: Series of five lunar flights, only Pioneer 4 was successful, 1958-1959.
• Ranger: Series of hardware and imaging flights to Moon.
• Surveyor: Series of softlander flights to the Moon.
• Lunar Orbiter: Series of imaging missions to Moon.
• Clementine: A cooperative DOD/NASA lunar mapping mission.
• Galileo: Mapping mission to Jupiter, also imaged Moon and asteroids, 1989-present.

Major NASA Applications Satellites and Earth Observation Projects

Communications Satellite History

• The Origins of Satellite Communications: A brief overview of the history of satellite communications.
• NASA Experimental Communications Satellites: An excellent exhibit on the overall history of NASA's efforts to develop communications satellites with images and discussions of individual projects.
• Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) Series (1966-1974): A text-only discussion of the six experimental communications satellites launched in this series.
• ANIK I (1972): Canadian communications satellite launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 1972.
• FLTSATCOM Network: A 1989 press release discussing the development of the Fleet Satellite Communications system developed jointly by the Navy, Air Force, and the Department of Defense.
• Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS): Information on a current NASA research effort.

Earth Resources Monitoring History

• Landsat: The first Earth resources monitoring satellites, 1972-1984.
• Seasat-A: A sea resources satellite project, 1978.
• Earth Observing System-A (EOS-A): An Earth resources monitoring satellite the followed Landsat.
• TOPEX/POSEIDON: Ocean surface mapping satellite.
• Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS)

Weather Satellites

• Weather Satellites Overview
• Tiros Series: A series of weather satellites operated 1960s-present.
• Nimbus Series: A series of weather satellites operated 1964-1978.
• NOAA-D

The NASA History Program

• NASA History Series Publications: A list of books published under the auspices of the NASA History Program since the creation of the agency. Many of these books will be placed on-line in the coming months. Please check the "On-Line NASA Histories" list periodically to see which ones have been made available in hypertext format.
• What's New in the NASA History Series: Information on recently published NASA historical works.
• On-Line NASA Histories: NASA historical works now available on-line.
• NASA History: News and Notes: The most recent issue of the quarterly newsletter of the NASA History Program.

NASA welcomes comments and questions about our Web site. However, due to the volume of messages we receive and diminishing resources in the Office of Public Affairs, we are unable to answer general questions about NASA and its programs through this link.

The most frequently asked questions about NASA are answered on our Q & A page or by our Fact Sheets. You can also use our search engine. If you have other questions, please write to one of the NASA Public Mail addresses for information. For comments and questions on our Web site, send your e-mail to comments@www.hq.nasa.gov.

For further information contact Roger D. Launius, NASA Chief Historian, rlaunius@codei.hq.nasa.gov
Curator: SAIC Web Team