Fifty-eight years ago to the day, 29 July 1958, President Eisenhower signed into law the National Aeronautics & Space Act, authorizing the creation of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (N.A.S.A.). The Act also wound-up the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (N.A.C.A.) & transferred its assents to N.A.S.A. (N.A.C.A. is an initialism, in that each letter is pronounced discretely, whilst N.A.S.A. is of course an acronym, pronounced as a single word.) N.A.S.A.'s achievements are the stuff of latter-day legend. N.A.S.A. has landed men on the Moon (& returned them safely to Earth), dispatched robotic probes to every planet in the solar system (including landing multiple rovers on the Red Planet, Mars), & opened up new vistas in astrophysics through the Hubble Space Telescope, etc. N.A.S.A. astronauts have stood on the Moon. N.A.S.A. astronauts have driven on the Moon. N.A.S.A. astronauts have golfed on the Moon. With renewed pluck & determination, N.A.S.A. astronauts will yet golf on Mars, & worlds beyond.
The National Aeronautics & Space Act was enacted, creating N.A.S.A., America's peaceful, civilian space program, on 29 July 1958, fifty-eight years ago today.
Bonus! Song of the Day
Fountains of Wayne, "A Fine Day for a Parade" from Utopia Parkway (The Last Angry Man)
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