It is accordingly proposed that the scientific research be the responsibility of a national civilian agency. It is of great urgency and importance to our country both from consideration of our prestige as a nation as well as military necessity that this challenge be met by an energetic program of research and development for the conquest of space. On January 14, 1958, NACA Director Hugh Dryden published "A National Research Program for Space Technology," stating, On January 12, 1958, NACA organized a "Special Committee on Space Technology," headed by Guyford Stever.
The result was a consensus that the White House forged among key interest groups, including scientists committed to basic research the Pentagon which had to match the Soviet military achievement corporate America looking for new business and a strong new trend in public opinion looking up to space exploration. Eisenhower counseled more deliberate measures. The US Congress, alarmed by the perceived threat to national security and technological leadership (known as the " Sputnik crisis"), urged immediate and swift action President Dwight D. After the Soviet space program's launch of the world's first artificial satellite ( Sputnik 1) on October 4, 1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch an artificial satellite for the International Geophysical Year (1957–1958).
NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System, Commercial Crew vehicles, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station. Since its establishment, most American space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to give the US space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA / ˈ n æ s ə/) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.