NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the nation's civil space program and aviation and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) focus encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, abolishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.SPUTNIK 1Sputnik (Russian: "Спу́тник-1" Russian pronunciation: [ˈsputnʲɪk], or Elementary Satellite-1)) was the Earth's first artificial satellite. It was a polished metal sphere 58 cm (23 in) in diameter, with four external radio antennas for broadcasting radio pulses. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low-Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. It was visible everywhere around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and ignited the space race, part of the broader Cold War. The launch marked the beginning of new political, military, technological and scientific developments. NASA usage example. Disadvantages of NASA. Disadvantages of space exploration include cost and danger. Currently, many people are under the impression that our missions in space are not very profitable, especially given the current state of our economy, and this often immediately turns off most people. It is true that we could spend less money on our missions and make them more profitable, but generally the American space program ...... middle of paper ...... becomes very important since no medical emergencies cannot be managed from the ground crew short of guidance to the astronauts.- CostThe overall cost of human spaceflight compared to robotic missions is an important factor in the decision to pursue missions. According to NASA, each space shuttle mission costs an average of $420 million, but that figure increased significantly after the Columbia disaster. These missions generally only last one to two weeks. Robotic missions cost much less since the tasks can take place over several years. For example, the Cassini-Huygens and Voyager missions lasted for years. In many ways, robotic missions are preferred to what many people might consider a traditional manned mission to space. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasa http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/72499.aspx