After World War II, the DOD began a serious research push into the fields of rocketry and upper atmosphere sciences to ensure American leadership in technology. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in support of this effort, approved a plan to orbit a scientific satellite as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) for the period, July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958, a cooperative effort to gather scientific data about the Earth. Quickly, the Soviet Union jumped in, announcing plans to orbit its own satellite.
On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency absorbed the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958 the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel formed the core of the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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Documents
Transcript of press conference regarding launching of Soviet satellite, October 9, 1957 (pages 2 thru 9 only)
Minutes of Cabinet Meeting, October 18, 1957 (pages 2 and 3 only)
Memorandum, Dr. Killian to President Eisenhower, progress report regarding missile and satellite programs, December 28, 1957
Memorandum of Conference with the President, Dr. Killian, et al, March 5, 1958
Minutes of Cabinet Meeting, March 14, 1958 (page 5 only)
Memorandum for Dr. Killian, Notes on NASA, April 10, 1958
Memorandum for the President regarding responsibility for space program, May 10, 1958
Minutes of Cabinet Meeting, August 15, 1958 (pages 3 and 4 only)
Memorandum for the Record, President Eisenhower's meeting with Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, July 7, 1958
Letter, Maurice Stans to President Eisenhower regarding H.R. 12575, the National Aeronautics and Space Act, July 26, 1958
Statement by the President regarding H.R. 12575, the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, July 29, 1958
Memorandum, Dr. Killian to President Eisenhower regarding four earth satellites, August 23, 1958
Minutes of Cabinet Meeting, May 15, 1959 (page 2 only)
Letter, Dr. Glennan to President Eisenhower regarding proposal to the Soviet Union relating to cooperation in space research, September 8, 1959
Memorandum, Dr. Kistiakowsky to General Goodpaster regarding coordination of satellite and space vehicle operations, September 15, 1959
Letter, Dr. Glennan to President Eisenhower regarding budget matters, October 20, 1959
Memorandum for the President from Administrator of NASA and Secretary of Defense regarding responsibility and organization for certain space activities, October 21, 1959
Memorandum for Dr. Kistiakowsky on NASA 1961 Estimates, November 14, 1959
Photographs
April 1960, President Eisenhower and NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan examine photographs taken by TIROS-1.
TIROS 1 had been launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, April 1, 1960. The spacecraft was 42 inches in diameter, 19 inches high and weighed 270 pounds. The craft was made of aluminum alloy and stainless steel which was then covered by 9200 solar cells. The solar cells served to charge the on-board batteries. By January of 1961 it had produced more than twenty two thousand photographs of cloud formations, and had given scientists comprehensive information on storm centers over such vast untracked areas as the southern seas. (NASA History Tiros-1)
President Eisenhower inspects the capsule from Discover XIII. Left to right:
Col. Lee Battle, Discoverer program director; Gen Curtis LeMay, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff; Lt. Gen. Bernard Schriever; Secretary of the Air Force Lee Battle; unidentified official; and Gen. Thomas White, Air Force Chief of Staff.
The Discoverer Program carried out 38 launches and achieved many breakthroughs in the process. Discoverer XIII, launched in August 1960, ejected a capsule that was subsequently recovered in the Pacific Ocean--the first successful recovery of a man-made object ejected from an orbiting satellite.Discoverer XIV, launched later the same month, also ejected a capsule, and it was recovered in mid-air northwest of Hawaii by a C-119J aircraft--the first successful aerial recovery of an object returned from orbit. The capsule of Discoverer XIV was the first to return film from orbit, inaugurating the age of satellite reconnaissance.
President Eisenhower with Marshall Space Flight Center director Werhner von Braun (pointing upward), September 8, 1960. On his way to dedication ceremonies for the Center on the morning of 8 September 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower paused before a test stand holding an enormous Saturn I booster. He turned to Wernher von Braun, the director of the new Center, and said that he had never seen anything like it. “They come into my office and say it has eight engines. I didn’t know if they put one on top of the other or what,” he told von Braun.
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