NASA’s Birthday Month

(Inside Science) -- For more than 60 years NASA has helped Americans and the world reach for the stars. On Oct. 1, 1958, NASA was officially formed, in response to the Soviets launching the Sputnik satellite, which caught America by surprise. The founding of NASA during the Cold War signaled the start of the U.S.-Soviet space race -- a competition that lasted almost 20 years.

NASA has come a long way since 1958, and now we can take a look at all their space achievements.

Editor’s Note (10/23/2020): The video’s narration is ambiguous about how many astronauts were involved in the Apollo program. Twelve astronauts landed on the moon itself, additional astronauts flew on Apollo missions and further still trained with them.