This month marks 65 years since NASA was created, forever altering the course of human history. Let's take a look back at what led us to where we are now.
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00:00 This weekend marks 65 years since President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation that
00:05 created NASA, setting the U.S. off on a race for space.
00:09 Joining us today to talk about some of the space agency's major milestones is NASA historian
00:14 Brian Odom.
00:15 Welcome, Brian.
00:16 Hey, thank you.
00:18 Why was the space program started and what were the goals in it in the beginning?
00:23 Yeah, early on, NASA was formed again as a result of this attempt really to make the
00:30 exploration of outer space peaceful in the United States.
00:33 It was born of that Cold War mentality.
00:36 The Soviets had been first with Sputnik in the fall of 1957.
00:43 So American public was kind of caught off guard, seeing that this was a political liability.
00:48 So the space agency was basically created to catch up, to kind of integrate that program
00:54 together.
00:55 Some of the first things that NASA is really responsible for is beginning to put a human
01:00 in space was part of it.
01:02 How do we get into orbit?
01:03 How do we begin the process of understanding what the microgravity environment is like?
01:08 You know, things like weather satellites, how can we use space as a platform for discovery,
01:14 looking at weather satellites, thinking in terms of communications.
01:18 So it was busy.
01:19 In 1962, John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth aboard Friendship 7.
01:26 Why was that such an important mission and was he in any danger during that mission?
01:30 Yeah, it was a critically important mission.
01:33 Again, like we mentioned with Sputnik, you know, America had been second to the Soviets
01:36 already with putting a satellite into orbit.
01:38 Well, they were also second in putting a human being into space.
01:41 During Gagarin's flight in April of 1961, America had responded with Alan Shepard in
01:47 May.
01:48 Yeah, putting John Glenn into orbit was incredibly important, though, because it really did,
01:54 it was a really important moment to show that America had this capability.
01:59 People forget that Alan Shepard's flight was suborbital.
02:01 You know, he didn't go into orbit like Gagarin had.
02:04 So now the United States has taken this first momentous step to put someone in space and
02:10 plan for what's coming next.
02:12 Space travel is always really risky, especially for the firsts.
02:15 Now we can't talk about NASA history without talking about Apollo 11.
02:19 Tell me about what that was like from the NASA perspective and how that actually advanced
02:23 the space program.
02:25 Yeah, from John Glenn's flight, as you say, in '62, flash forward to 1969 and the incredible
02:33 momentum really coming from just an orbital flight to landing on the moon was, you know,
02:38 it took a, it really did take a monumental effort.
02:41 There were all these technological challenges that had to be overcome.
02:44 And so, you know, Neil Armstrong, his steps on the moon there, you know, representing
02:48 the culmination of what President Kennedy had called for back in '61.
02:53 For NASA, it really demonstrates what it's capable of.
02:56 Now we're going back to the moon with really a, with a sustainable program.
03:00 You know, it's long, it's really well thought out.
03:03 It's an incremental approach staged over a long period of time with the result that,
03:08 you know, one day we will learn enough to go on to Mars.
03:10 So it's, it's quite a different way to frame it up from a, especially from a resource and
03:15 a policy standpoint, but also from that scientific mission.
03:19 Thank you.
03:20 NASA historian, Brian Odom.
03:22 Hey, thank you so much.