On NASA’s birthday, a reminder that we can thank Nixon for the agency

NASA

NASA formally opened its doors on October 1, 1958, and it turns 60 years old today. The nation's space agency has marked the diamond anniversary in various way and anticipates a bright future.

However, given heated talk of a Space Force, military "domination" of space, and the rise of commercial companies, it is reasonable to pause at this moment to ponder NASA's durability. A review of the space agency's early history validates concerns about NASA's relative fragility. In the late 1950s, the US Air Force resisted the removal of human spaceflight activities to a new civil space agency, and it has quietly been pushing back ever since. Even 60 years later, this war may not yet be lost by the military.

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