Della Tsai, age 15, of Springfield, I11., for her question:

WHEN WAS THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY STARTED?

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a center for the design of unmanned spacecraft and their control in space. Located in Pasadena, Calif., the famous organization is operated by the California Institute of Technology for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

A few students from Caltech, as the California Institute of Technology is known by many, established the laboratory in 1936 as a place for rocket research. The laboratory did research and development work on rocket s for the Army from 1939 until 1958, at which time it was transferred to NASA.

Two probes were sent on a mission to explore the space between the planets in 1958 and 1959. Engineers at the center guided the Ranger space probes that photographed the moon. The engineers also guided the Surveyor spacecraft that made the first unmanned United States landings on the moon.

The U.S.  unmanned moon missions from 1962 to 1968 prepared the way for men to land on the moon. Spacecraft  developed by and controlled from JPL have flown by Mercury. Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus plus very successful unmanned landing and orbital flights around  Mars.