It was fifty years ago today, on July 29, 1958, that President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In the half century that has elapsed since that day, the agency has landed men on the Moon and sent robotic probes to land on, orbit or fly past scores of other worlds throughout the Solar System. The information gained through these explorations represents the greatest treasure trove of scientific knowledge ever obtained.
In the long run, historians will look back on the first half century of NASA's history in much the same way that modern historians look back on the voyages of European explorers to the New World from the late 15th Century onward.
The Committee for the Advocacy of Space Exploration believes that the next fifty years of NASA's history can be even more extraordinary. On July 29, 2058, perhaps we will be looking back on a half century that saw the creation of permanent human outposts on the Moon and Mars, the beginnings of the transformation of humanity into a space-faring species.
Celebrate today and keep dreaming about tomorrow.
