NASA completed its second space shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster on Monday, when Discovery touched down safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA completed its second space shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster on Monday, when Discovery touched down safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In its 48 years, the US space agency has gone from being a key front in the Cold War to building the International Space Station in cooperation with Russia and others. Here is a brief history.
The beginning: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began operation on Oct. 1, 1958, in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the satellite Sputnik in 1957.
Human space flight: On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth. Alan Shepard, one of seven astronauts in NASA's Mercury program, became the first American launched into space on May 5, 1961.
Mercury astronaut John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth on Feb. 20, 1962.
Moonwalkers: Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. Armstrong, the first to set foot on the lunar surface, broadcast the message, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." A total of 12 astronauts walked on the moon in the Apollo program, the last in 1972.
Deadly NASA accidents: Seventeen astronauts have died in accidents: three in a launch pad fire on Apollo 1 in 1967, seven aboard shuttle Challenger in 1986, seven aboard shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Astronomy from space: NASA launched dozens of space probes to collect astronomical data, notably the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. A flawed mirror gave it imperfect vision, which was corrected by shuttle astronauts.
Cosmic construction zone: Construction of the International Space Station began in 1998 in cooperation with the space agencies of Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan.
Shuttle's successor: The space shuttle fleet is set to retire in 2010 after the space station is complete. The next generation of US spaceships will include a Crew Exploration Vehicle designed to return Americans to the moon and beyond.
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