The Meaning of NASA: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of NASA? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the abbreviation NASA, including its definition, usage, examples, and more!

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What does the abbreviation NASA stand for?

According to NASA, NASA stands for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which is a U.S. government agency that is responsible for science and technology related to air and space. NASA began shortly after The Space Age in October of 1958, inciting the Space Race. The Space Age began in 1957 when the Soviet Union satellite Sputnik was launched. NASA is led by an administrator who is nominated by the President of the United States and is confirmed by a Senate vote. NASA replaced the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Currently, NASA launches target a martian surface on Mars, the red planet, amongst other efforts.

While NASA is headquartered in Washington D.C., they have numerous different satellite locations across the United States, listed below from NASA.

  •  Katherine Johnson IV and V Facility
  •  Plum Brook Station
  •  Langley Research Center
  •  Ames Research Center
  •  Goddard Institute of Space Studies
  •  NASA Safety Center
  •  Wallops Flight Facility
  •  NASA Shared Services Center
  •  Glenn Research Center
  •  Johnson Space Center (Houston, Texas)
  •  Skylab Space Station
  •  NASA Engineering and Safety Center
  •  White Sands Test Facility
  •  Goddard Space Flight Center
  •  Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, California Institute of Technology)
  •  Marshall Space Flight Center
  •  Armstrong Flight Research Center
  •  Kennedy Space Center
  •  Michoud Assembly Facility
  •  NASA Headquarters
  •  Stennis Space Center

NASA does numerous different things, including leading US space exploration efforts, completing the Apollo Moon Landing missions, creating great observatories, having a civilian space program, countdown management, forming a heliophysics research program, researching advanced robotic spacecraft, the oversight of launch operations, and more. They also develop satellite systems for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA’s science is focused on better understanding Earth. They employ engineers, scientists, astronauts and other NASA workers.  A NASA astronaut has to know lots of different space science, including astrophysics topics and more. 

What are some famous NASA missions?

NASA has put into motion a plethora of different missions since its inception. These are listed below, from NASA.

  •  TWINS
  •  NOAA-N Prime
  •  Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)
  •  Deep Impact
  •  Earth Radiation Budget Satellite
  •  Europa Clipper
  •  Gravity Probe-B
  •  Phoenix
  •  Space Shuttle
  •  Voyager
  •  NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations)
  •  TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)
  •  Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)
  •  Planck
  •  InSight
  •  Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS)
  •  Dragonfly
  •  Jason
  •  NuSTAR
  •  Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)
  •  Gemini
  •  Hitomi (ASTRO-H)
  •  NPP
  •  Moon Mineralogy Mapper
  •  Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)
  •  Surveyor
  •  Viking
  •  Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
  •  Van Allen Probes
  •  â€‹Commercial Resupply Services
  •  EnVision Collaboration​
  •  ARTEMIS and THEMIS Science Missions
  •  ACE
  •  Ulysses
  •  SOHO
  •  Analog Missions
  •  BARREL
  •  Mini-RF
  •  TIMED
  •  Mars Express
  •  ASTRO-2
  •  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
  •  NMP EO-1
  •  International Space Station
  •  RXTE
  •  GRAIL
  •  Curiosity
  •  CubeSats
  •  NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar)
  •  Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS)
  •  FAST
  •  SERVIR
  •  MAVEN: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN
  •  FUSE
  •  WIND
  •  DAVINCI+
  •  IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe)
  •  XMM Newton
  •  Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3
  •  SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory)
  •  Pioneer Venus
  •  Scientific Balloons
  •  Upper Atmosphere Radiation Satellite (UARS)
  •  Space Station
  •  Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) 
  •  Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS)
  •  Parker Solar Probe
  •  ECOSTRESS
  •  Solar Anomalous and Magnetospherice Particle Explorer (SAMPEX)
  •  Heliophysics
  •  CALIPSO
  •  RapidScat
  •  Terra
  •  Suomi NPP
  •  GOES
  •  Small Satellites
  •  Geotail
  •  Mariner
  •  Lunar Quest Program
  •  Shuttle-Mir
  •  James Webb Space Telescope
  •  TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellites)
  •  IMAGE
  •  Swift
  •  Cloudsat
  •  Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (EP-TOMS)
  •  SOFIA
  •  â€‹Commercial Crew
  •  Operation IceBridge
  •  Orion Spacecraft
  •  Mars Odyssey
  •  Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER)
  •  Lucy (Trojan Asteroid Mission)
  •  Space Launch System (SLS)
  •  Gateway
  •  TOPEX/Poseidon
  •  VERITAS
  •  RHESSI
  •  Fire and Smoke
  •  Suzaku
  •  DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)
  •  GALEX
  •  IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer)
  •  ARCTAS
  •   K2
  •  Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST)
  •  IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer)
  •  LCROSS
  •  JUICE (JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer)
  •  Galileo
  •  Mars InSight Lander
  •  TRACE
  •  GLAST
  •  Mars Global Surveyor
  •  Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) (SLS/Orion)
  •  Mars Perseverance Rover
  •  Roman Space Telescope
  •  Spitzer
  •  Glory
  •  Cluster ESA/NASA Mission
  •  TOMS-EP
  •  IceBridge
  •  DISCOVER-AQ
  •  NEOWISE
  •  STEREO
  •  Dawn
  •  CYGNSS (Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System)
  •  OSIRIS-REx
  •  Aquarius
  •  LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)
  •  Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT)
  •  Earth Observing-1
  •  Landsat
  •  Ranger
  •  Perseverance Rover
  •  Astro-E2 (Suzaku)
  •  Chandra X-Ray Observatory
  •  Sounding Rockets
  •  MESSENGER: Mercury, Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging
  •  CHAMP
  •  Apollo-Soyuz
  •  SPHEREx
  •  Hubble
  •  EPOXI​
  •  Kepler
  •  THEMIS
  •  Aura
  •  Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) (SLS/Orion)
  •  Juno
  •  Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE)
  •  ATTREX
  •  ASTRO-1
  •  Genesis
  •  HETE-2
  •  Low-Boom Flight Demonstration
  •  GOLD (Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk)
  •  Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)
  •  Hurricanes
  •  Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2
  •  Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS)
  •  Clementine
  •  Solar Orbiter Collaboration
  •  POES
  •  CINDI
  •  Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO)
  •  Skylab
  •  Rosetta
  •  Aqua
  •  Cassini-Huygens
  •  Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity)
  •  Psyche (Asteroid Mission)
  •  NOAA-N
  •  SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive)
  •  ICESat-2
  •  New Horizons
  •  â€‹Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
  •  Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
  •  Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON)
  •  LAGEOS 1 and 2
  •  QuikSCAT
  •  Artemis Program (Human Spaceflight — Moon to Mars)
  •  LADEE: Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer
  •  IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph)
  •  SEAC4RS
  •  Radiation Belt Storm Probes/Van Allen Probes
  •  Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer
  •  Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)
  •  Explorer
  •  Landsat Data Continuity Mission
  •  Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
  •  ICESat
  •  Apollo
  •  Mercury (Human Spaceflight Program)
  •  Euclid
  •  AIM
  •  Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE)
  •  Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2
  •  Hinode (Solar-b)
  •  Mars Pathfinder
  •  Lunar Outpost
  •  â€‹International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL)
  •  Stardust-NExT
  •  Pioneer
  •  PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem)
  •  Magellan
  •  Herschel
  •  Polar
  •  Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Overall, the acronym NASA is an independent agency of the United States government under the federal government that is focused on aerospace research, space technology, and other peaceful applications to send civilians to space.

Sources:

  1. NASA Missions AZ | NASA 
  2. What Is NASA? | NASA 
  3. Map of NASA Centers and Facilities | NASAÂ