nasa page

Click the image below to visit NASA's home page	The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) came into existence in 1958. Soon to celebrate its 50th birthday, and with an annual budget in excess of seventeen billion dollars, NASA is without question the worlds leader in space research and exploration.

The cost of NASA's success though has been high, both in monetary terms and human lives. Who can forget that fateful day in January 1986 when the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its flight after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff? And years later, February 2003, the sight of the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrating as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere high above the US. But can you remember even further back? January 27, 1967 when the crew of apollo 1, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire in the Apollo Command Module during a preflight test at Cape Canaveral. Seventeen lost souls in all then, and it could have been twenty. Remember Apollo 13? Those guys were incredibly lucky to survive. Even now though there is no shortage of volunteers to venture into space, to drive forwards the boundaries of science... and to one day fulfil mankind's destiny in their quest to reach for the stars. The Heritage Files salutes your bravery, and shares in the loss of your fallen comrades.
Challenger	Apollo 1		Columbia


VOYAGER 1 & 2... NASA's 30 Year Success Mission
1977 saw the launch of the twin Voyager spacecraft on their flyby missions on their tour of our solar system. Between them, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 provided us with our first close up views of our neighboring planets. In fact, they provided us with so much information that much of it is still being studied!
Voyager Space Probe			Jupiter's complex atmosphere
	The Voyager image on the right shows Jupiter's giant red spot, surrounded by highly detailed cloud systems. Below left, Jupiter's 2nd largest moon Calisto. Below centre, false colour image of Saturn's ring system showing its extreme complexity. Below right, Neptune. Showing high altitude white cloud and two darker blue storm systems.

Voyager 1 & 2's Primary mission will end in around 2020 when their electrical power source will fail, but they will carry on along their trajectories, venturing further and further into interstellar space. Who knows, one day they may be discovered by other life forms, and to that end they carry a message from us, here on Earth... a message of greeting and peace. Let us hope that if they are found then they are found by a race more friendly than ourselves, for they also pinpoint our position in the galaxy. Possibly not the wisest piece of information to broadcast when you don't know the recipient of your message!

Some of NASA's other current space missions
Mars Rovers Spirit & Opportunity. Still exploring Mars after 3 years.	Cassini-Huygens -- studying Saturn, her rings and moons in unparalleled detail.		In association with the ESA, SOHO, studying our sun.
		Pictured above is Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, larger even than the planet Mercury, and the only moon in the solar system that possesses a dense atmosphere (10 times denser than Earth's). The fact that this atmosphere is rich in organic material and that living organisms as we know them are composed of organic material is particularly intriguing. Cassini will execute 45 flybys of Titan, some of them only several hundred kilometers from its surface. The European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which pierced Titan's thick-dense haze, was dedicated to the study of Titan's atmosphere. The probe actually survived for several hours on the surface and returned stunning images.	An enormous Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) erupts from the surface of our sun, above, propelling trillions of tons of star matter into space. These events can trigger power cuts on Earth as the radiation collides with our atmosphere a few days after the event. The radiation can also be a serious hazard to astronaut's and early warnings of approaching storms are critical to their safety.
After three and a half years on Mars the two Rovers, Spirit & Opportunity, are still exploring the surface of Mars. Originally designed with an expected life of just 90 days they have surpassed all expectations and continue to expand our knowledge of Martian geology. After hibernating through recent dust storms they are once again on the move, enroute to new locations to resume their missions.

To visit the Mars Rovers web site please click on the link below.	To visit the Cassini mission web site please click on the banner below.		To visit the SOHO web site please click on the link below.