NASA

NASA is a U.S. federal civilian agency created on October 1, 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, replacing the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics). It designs, launches and operates its missions from 10 major research and operations centers across the country. Its programs cover robotic exploration of the solar system, human spaceflight (International Space Station, Artemis program to the Moon), Earth science and astrophysics. NASA entrusts much of its work to specialized centers: JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for NASA by Caltech) leads most robotic solar system exploration.

NASA is funded by the U.S. Congress through the federal budget. Its annual budget (≈ $25 billion in 2024) represents about 0.4 % of the federal budget and about 0.1 % of U.S. GDP. The budget is voted annually by Congress and divided among mission directorates (Science, Human Space Exploration, Aeronautics, Technology, Operations).

NASA is the world's most active space agency and landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969 (Apollo 11). It now operates the James Webb Space Telescope (with ESA and CSA), the Perseverance rover on Mars, and leads the Artemis program for human return to the Moon. Its insignia, the "meatball" (red sphere on starry blue background), is one of the most recognized logos in the world.