NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Established in 1958, NASA was formed to give U.S. space efforts a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has led major American space exploration efforts, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle program. NASA currently supports the International Space Station, oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System, and manages numerous scientific research projects and uncrewed space missions. NASA's focus encompasses understanding Earth, exploring the Solar System, and researching astrophysics topics such as the Big Bang.

NASA

U.S. federal agency for space exploration and aeronautics, aerospace research.

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

Space Shuttle Launch Schedule