Gadgetory

tonight Soviet rivalry dogs in space and the race towards Mars it must be NASA's why does everyone's favourite space agency gets its seniors card what does the future hold and what's this I hear about a second moon I'm Claire Reilly welcome to watch this space from the Senate studios in Sydney this is your weekly guide to everything on earth you need to know about space tonight we're taking a look at the little space agency that could as NASA turn 60 and like most six-year-olds NASA has a soft spot for the Eisenhower years while the US had a National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics created back in 1915 it wasn't until the 50s when the space race was really heading up that NACA was replaced by NASA on July 29 1958 President Dwight d Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law thanks Ike just two months later on October 1st NASA officially opened its proverbial pod bay doors and started work and they had a lot of work to do why well in the words of that 1960s classic the Russians were coming just don't panic the Soviets had already sent the Sputnik satellite up into space in October of 57 dubbing at the second moon classic Russia and then just a month later they sent Sputnik 2 up with a dog inside but the United States no doubt wanting to secure some of those high paying moon jobs for their own all-american canines couldn't let sleeping dogs lie especially if they were Russkies just 10 days after officially setting up shop in 1958 NASA launched its first spacecraft the Pioneer one five months later pioneer one made its first lunar flyby past the real non Sputnik moon and in April 1960 we got our first TV images of Earth from space looking good earth the winds kept coming May 5th 1961 Alan Shepard became the first American to travel to space for all of 15 minutes February 20 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth then the big news came in 1969 when the world sat glued to their TV sets eating their moon pies as two homegrown boys named Neil Armstrong and Buzz all drum set foot on the moon but it hasn't all been smooth space sailing for NASA even the projects that have made it off the ground haven't all gone safely in 2003 seven NASA crew members died when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and who could forget the images beamed around the world of the Challenger Space Shuttle breaking apart shortly after takeoff in 1986 even NASA's bid to reach the moon faced early troubles when a fire killed all three crew members of the Apollo 1 in 1967 but even beyond the tragedy nASA has still had its setbacks why turns out space exploration is really slow and expensive shocking NASA has faced plenty of criticism over the years for budget blowouts and delays case in point the successor to the Hubble telescope the James Webb Space Telescope has been plagued with problems including years of delays to its slated launch date and an estimated 1.5 billion dollars in cost overruns but that's not the only issue for NASA in the words of another 60s icon and their times they are changing and it's no longer just about beating the Soviets to operation space pup now it's all about the Mars race which leads us to this week's edition of watch this space X thanks Claire think of SpaceX kind of like the NKOTB of the modern space race cool cashed up and led by the Donnie Wahlberg of the tech community Elon Musk alongside Blue Origin which is the space exploration company headed up by Amazon's Jeff Bezos who I guess is the Marky Mark in this situation SpaceX is giving NASA a run for its money and changing the shape of modern space exploration in may 2018 US President Donald Trump issued Space policy directive to catchy name which aims to expand the role of commercial companies in space exploration but SpaceX is no stranger to NASA's work it's been delivering cargo to the International Space Station for NASA for some years now and alongside bowling it will soon be responsible for getting astronauts to the ISS as well so nASA has the expertise but they still rely on government budgets and without their support they could end up hanging tough private space companies certainly have deeper pockets but they are still the new kids on the block looks like companies like SpaceX will have to work with NASA to take us into the new Space Age step by step so what's next for NASA well we're looking at going back to the moon and taking those first steps towards Mars for the next era of space exploration that is of course if we can make it past president Trump's spaceports to get there but whatever the future holds NASA has been its own force for good spurring scientific discovery inspiring generations of bright minds and advancing its own original stated goal of peaceful progress in space for all humankind so on behalf of all of us here at CNN happy birthday NASA and from this nerdy kid all the way down in Australia thanks for opening up the skies that's it for this week's edition I've watched this space if you've enjoyed our broadcast please hit the like button on your remote and subscribe to receive further space news as it happens I'm Claire i'li piscina goodnight and Godspeed