NASA chief to defy agency’s charter, terminating science | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Aug, 2025
NASA’s 1958 charter’s top priority was, “the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space.” Is this how it ends?
Back in 1957, something spectacular happened that would change the world forever: the first human-created satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched into space. Orbiting our planet in low-Earth orbit, its unique signatures could be seen across the world. Unlike the stars, planets, or meteors that illuminated the night sky, this artificial satellite would glow with the reflected light of the Sun, streaking across the skies overhead whenever it passed within a couple of hundred kilometers of an observer’s location. This momentous occasion marked the birth of the space age, and in 1958, the United States responded in legendary fashion.
Rushing to catch up, the first US space probe — Explorer 1 — was launched in February of 1958. On July 29 of that year, President Eisenhower since the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 into law, establishing the foundation for space policy and bringing NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, into existence. In all the time since, adhering to the vision of its charter, NASA has been responsible for some of the greatest achievements in human history…
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