Amanda Tally, age 12, of ITinston Salem,No. Carolina, for her question:

When did NASA get started?

Lunar landings, weather satellites, space probes to other planets, super surveys of tine earth, new systems of communications, a microminituarization of electronics, plus dozens of everyday inventions    these are just some of NASA'a accomplishments. If you had to guess, you might say that it took 10,000 years to introduce the world to all these wonders. NASA was established as an independent agency in 1958

The Spaceage Success Story began with the first man made satellite, in 1957. This proved that it is possible to escape Earth's gravity and ex¬plore the vast re ions beyond. Everybody was eager to go go Lo and no time was wasted in setting up a workable system to usher in the new era. In 1955, the year after the first satellite, the U.S. Congress established a well or anized federal and civilian agency for the purpose of peaceful research and development in space flight.

The stupendous undertaking eras called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA. Almost at once it became a busy hive with thousands of topnotch scientists and researchers., engineers and technicians. Some of the teams worked in universities, some in civilian industries and some in a dozen or so major NASA centers set up in various states to cope with special aspects of the enormous project. For example, as we all know, moon missions are launched from the NASA Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral and  controlled NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center is at Houston.

Recorded history began when mankind invented writing and all of it is crowded into about 5,000 years. Without a doubt, history's most important scientific event is the conquest of space that began in the mid fifties. The organization of  NASA made it possible for this stupendous adventure to progress with speed and accuracy. Certain experts suggest why this is so, and also why the beneficial by products have been so much greater than anybody expected.

The problem of coping with space travel is, naturally, out of this world. Systems that work on earth had to be forgotten and new ones devised to work in space. Researchers had to come up with new substances and mater¬ials, new instruments of all kinds. And many of these spaceage items proved superior to plastics., devices and dozens of everyday objects we had been using  on earth. We have the benefit of these spaceage improvements.

Another surprising regard sprang from NASA's basic organization. Never before had so many teams of top scientists been able to put their heads together to solve different aspects of a major problem. This organization of multiple teamwork is the big success story behind the scene. Among other wonders, it made possible the first lunar landings, which happened when NASA was only 11 years old.