1958 - NASA begins operations.

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began operations after the President Eisenhower created the organization in late July. NASA was formed from four laboratories and 8000 employees from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). NASA was to lead the United States into the Space Race between the US and USSR though the Cold War. They concentrated on missions that would discover if a man could survive in space by forming Project Mercury.