National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was the designation for an early Human space exploration agency created by the former Earth nation United States of America in 1958. 

NASA oversaw the launch of a vast majority of the major spaceflight milestones of the 20th and 21st centuries.

History

 * 1958 - NASA is founded
 * 1959 - The Ranger program starts
 * 1960 - The probe Pioneer 5 is launched
 * 1961 - Alan Shepard is the first American astronaut in space


 * 1962 - John Glenn is the first American to complete an orbit of the Earth
 * 1962 - The probe Mariner 2 is launched
 * 1962 - The probe Ranger 5 is launched
 * 1968 - A nuclear weapons platform was launched from McKinley Rocket Base The warhead apparently armed itself, but exploded 104 miles from Earth's surface
 * 1969 - The Apollo 11 spacecraft lands on the Moon, recording Humanity's first steps on another world; Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are the first Humans to step on the Moon
 * 1971 - Alan Shepard commands Apollo 14 mission (Star Trek: Enterprise opening credits)
 * 1972 - The probe Pioneer 10 is launched
 * 1973 - The first American space station Skylab is launched into Earth orbit Pioneer 11 is launched.


 * 1976 - The space shuttle program starts by conducting the first tests with the prototype, Enterprise OV-101 (Star Trek: Enterprise opening credits; )
 * 1979 - Pioneer 11 becomes the first Human spacecraft to visit Saturn. This success is the culmination of 22 years of work to visit and survey those planets that had been seen by Humans prior to the invention of the telescope.
 * 1986 - The space shuttle Challenger OV-099 explodes 78 seconds after liftoff, killing seven astronauts (dedication from )
 * 1996 - Scientists from NASA find the first microscopic evidence of past life on Mars.
 * 1997 - Sojourner, the first rover vehicle launched by NASA lands on Mars


 * 1990s to ? - NASA participates in the International Space Station project (Star Trek: Enterprise opening credits)
 * 1999 - The probe Voyager 6 is launched (Star Trek Chronology)
 * 2002 - The probe Nomad MK-15c, constructed by Jackson Roykirk, is launched
 * Early 21st century - The space shuttle OV-165 is launched (Star Trek: Enterprise opening credits)
 * Early 21st century - The Earth-Saturn probe expedition is conducted by Colonel Shaun Geoffrey Christopher and includes Fontana and O'Herlihy
 * Early 21st century - NASA collaborates with other space agencies in the International Space Agency, in particular during the Ares IV mission to Mars in 2032 (conducted by John Kelly, Rose Kumagawa and Andrei Novakovich)


 * 2037 - The spaceship Charybdis is launched as the third attempt to explore beyond the Sol system; the crew include Colonel Stephen G. Richey, Evans, Schmitt and Cernan
 * 2038 - NASA loses contact with the Charybdis following a failure in the ship's telemetry system. It was later learned that the Charybdis was contaminated by an alien lifeform which infected and killed all personnel except mission commander Stephen G. Richey.

Astronauts

 * Aldrin, Buzz
 * Armstrong, Neil
 * Cernan
 * Conrad, Pete
 * Evans
 * Glenn, John
 * Richey, Stephen G.
 * Shepard, Alan
 * Schmitt

Others

 * Moss, Gerald (media relations department)
 * O'Donnell, Shannon (aerospace engineer)
 * Roykirk, Jackson (scientist)

Vehicles and rockets

 * Mercury capsule
 * Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle

Background
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration received "grateful acknowledgment" in the closing credits of, as well as the closing credits of.

To achieve a more realistic and gritty look for Deep Space 9, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine production team looked at NASA photographs of the space shuttles and other space vehicles. (Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before)

For the rendering of Earth seen in and, David Takemura used an eight-by-ten NASA transparency of the planet to create the footage. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

Three "real" NASA astronauts have appeared in Trek productions – Mae Jemison (the first African-American woman in space) played Lt. Palmer in, while E. Michael Fincke and Terry Virts (though Virts was uncredited) appeared together as Lt. M. Fincke and Ens. T. Virts, respectively, in the Enterprise finale.