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Description |
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was
created on October 1, 1958. It d perform civilian research related
to space flight and aeronautics. President Eisenhower commissioned
Dr. T. Keith an, right, as the first administrator for NASA
and Dr. Hugh L. Dryden as deputy administrator. |
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The Marshall Space Flight Center, a NASA field installation,
was established in Huntsville in 0. The new Center was named
in honor of General George C. Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff
during World War II, of State, and Nobel Prize Winner for his
world-renowned Marshall Plan. |
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The Marshall Space Flight Center began operating after the
U.S. Army transferred land, space projects, and property to
NASA. Dr. Von Braun was the Center's first director. The Marshall
team brought with it on the Army Ballistic Missile Agency plans
to build a family of giant launch vehicles. |
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The urgency and importance of the Marshall Center's mission
was apparent from the beginning. It became even more apparent
on April 12, 1961, when the Soviet, Yuri Gagarin, became the
first man in space. |
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The United States began Project Mercury. It was designed to
place a manned space capsule in orbital flight around the Earth,
investigate man's reaction to this new environment, and recover
the capsule and the pilot safely. |
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In 1961, Marshall's Mercury-Redstone vehicle boosted the America's
first astronaut, Alan B. Shepard on a suborbital flight. |
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The Marshall Center's first major program was development
of the Saturn rockets. The Saturn V, first launched on November
9, 1967, was the most powerful member of the Saturn family producing
as much power as 85 Hoover Dams. |
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The crowning achievement for the Saturn V rocket came when
it launched Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon in July 1969. |
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The Saturn V provided the capability for Earth escape and
Earth orbital missions for Apollo and later for Skylab. Before
the end of the 1960's, the Marshall Center was extending its
capabilities in another direction as well. The Lunar Roving
Vehicle was designed to transport astronauts and materials on
the moon. A Lunar Roving Vehicle was used on each of the last
three Apollo missions in 1971 and 1972 to permit the crew to
travel several miles from the lunar landing site. |
