Space Missions of NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The mission of NASA (National Aeronautics And Space Administration) is to explore the outer space for new discoveries including but not limited to exploration of other planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies, black holes, search for life, etc. To accomplish this task, NASA has sent several manned and unmanned space shuttles into space to discover other planets having life, water, or to check if there are other living organisms. Also they want to explore if humans can construct colonies on moon, mars, and other planets and what is their survival rate at other planets. NASA gets assistance in exploring and surveillance activities with use of technologically advanced and high-powered telescopes from other countries. Some important countries having space agencies connected with NASA are ISRO (IndianSpace Research Organization), European space agency (ESA), Russian Federal Space Agency, Canadian space agency, Chinese space agency, and German space agency. Thousands of scientists and astronauts from all over the world are working with NASA to perform research and also study earth's energy balance. Up until today NASA has accomplished several missions to quest its thirst to know about outer space, the region that starts above over earth's horizon, and its connection with earth.

SOME PAST MISSIONS OF NASA WERE:

AIM, ACE, Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz, Aqua, ARCTAS, Ares, Aquarius, ASTRO-2, Aura, ASTRO-1, Cassini, CHAMP, CALIPSO, CINDI, Clementine, Chandra, Cloudsat, Constellation Program, Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), Deep Impact, Dawn, EPOXI, Exploration Plans, Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, Extreme, Explorer, Ultraviolet Explorer, Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, FAST, FUSE, Fire and Smoke, Galileo, Gemini, GALEX, Genesis, GLAST, Glory, GOES, Geotail, GOES-O, Gravity Probe-B, GOES-Patient, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, Hinode (Solar-b), HETE-2, Hurricanes, Hubble, ICEsat, IBEX, International Space Station, IMAGE, Jason, Juno, James Webb Space Telescope, Kepler, LAGEOS 1 and 2, LADEE, Landsat 7, LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), LCROSS, Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Global Surveyor, Magellan, Mars Odyssey, Mars Science Laboratory, Mercury, MESSENGER, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mini-RF, Moon Mineralogy Mapper, New Horizons, NMP EO-1, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), NOAA-N, NPP, NOAA-N Prime, Operation Ice Bridge, Ocean Surface Topography Mission, Orion, Orbiting Carbon Observatory, Pioneer, POES, Phoenix, Polar, QuikSCAT, Ranger, Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT), RHESSI, RXTE, SERVIR, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, SDO, Small Satellites, SOFIA, Skylab, SOHO, Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment, Solar Anomalous and Magnetospherice Particle Explorer (SAMPEX), SORCE, Spitzer, Stardust-NexT, Space Shuttle, Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS), STEREO, SWIFT, Surveyor, THEMIS, Terra, TIMED, TOPEX/Poseidon, TOMS-EP, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, TRACE, (UARS) Upper Atmosphere Radiation Satellite, Ulysses, Voyager, Viking, WIND, WISE, and Wide-Field Infrared Explorer.

FUTURE MISSIONS OF NASA INCLUDE:

Glory: Understanding the energy balance of earth.

International Space Station: The next mission of NASA to the International Space Station.

Juno: NASA scientists and astronauts have revealed that Jupiter holds loads of secrets about the early history of our solar system. NASA will launch Juno to unlock these secrets while putting some light on how planets and other objects of the star systems are formed.

Space Shuttle: NASA’s space shuttle is the most complex shuttle ever built which is helping in constructing International Space Station, which is the largest orbiting lab in the world.

Moreover, NASA scientists are doing extensive research on various other projects.