NASA Full Form

NASA 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a USA government agency that works for the civilian space program as well as for scientific discovery, aeronautics, Earth and aerospace research. It was established on 1 October 1958 by president Dwight D. Eisenhower by the National Aeronautics and Space Act. It basically trades with the development of peaceful applications (rather than military) in space science and is then managed by the U.S. science and technology that deals with space exploration and aeroplanes.

NASA is actually led by an Administrator. Jim Bridenstine is the 13th administrator of NASAA and James W. Morhard is the 14th Deputy Administrator of NASA from July 2019.

NASA Vision: To invent and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity.

NASA headquarters is in Washington, and it has 10 NASA centres across the United States. It also has 7 NASA workplaces for studying and testing Earth and space. NASA's work is divided into four different types:

1. Aeronautics: It is responsible for the development of advanced aviation technologies.

2. Human Exploration and Operations: This deals with the management of manned space missions, international space station as well as the operations related to launching services, space transportation, and space communications for both manned and robotic exploration programs.

3. Science: This deals with the programs designed for understanding the origin, structure, evolution, and future of the Earth, the solar system, and the universe.

4. Space Technology: This deals with the development of space science and exploration technologies.

NASA Grant Program Highlights:

i) Space Grant: NASA introduced the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, which is also known as a Space Grant, in 1989. It is a network of colleges and universities which work to create and expand opportunities for Americans to understand and participate in space and aeronautics projects of NASA by supporting and improving science and engineering education, research, and public outreach efforts.

ii) NASA Research Opportunities: NASA's overall mission is to support research in the field of science and technology. It solicits the research by releasing research announcements in various science and technology disciplines. Through a peer-review process, it evaluates and selects research proposals received in response to these research announcements.

iii) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs: These are NASA’s programs to fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfil the needs of NASA and have huge potential for successful commercialization.

iv) International Space Station Funding Opportunities: NASA funding is available through NASA Research Announcements (NRAs). There are various typing funding available to scientists to be used for International Space Station (ISS) research and development, payload development and processing, on-orbit operation, and more. National Laboratory funding for space station use is obtained through research opportunities with other government agencies as well as with entities in the private and non-profit sectors.

Space Flight Programs:

NASA has conducted both manned and unmanned space flight programs. Some of its famous space flight programs are as follows:

1. Manned Space Programs

2. Unmanned Space Programs