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NASA’s Origins

The headshot image of Michelle Zajac

Michelle Zajac

Oct 02, 2023
Image Article
From left to right, Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Dr. T. Keith Glennan smile as they have a discussion. Dryden and Eisenhower hold cylindrical objects in their hands; Glennan looks down at their hands. They are all wearing suits.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created on October 1, 1958, to perform civilian research related to space flight and aeronautics. President Eisenhower commissioned Dr. T. Keith Glennan, right, as the first administrator for NASA and Dr. Hugh L. Dryden as deputy administrator.
NASA

On July 29, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act “to provide for research into problems of flight within and outside the Earth’s atmosphere.” At the White House less than a month later, Eisenhower commissioned Dr. T. Keith Glennan, right, as the first administrator for NASA and Dr. Hugh L. Dryden as deputy administrator.

NASA officially opened for business 65 years ago on Oct. 1, 1958, to oversee the United States’ nonmilitary space activities. It was based on its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which was established in 1915 to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution.”

Learn more about the creation of NASA.

Image Credit: NASA