Galileo spacecraft
NASA's Galileo spacecraft making a flyby of Jupiter's moon Io, in an artist's rendering.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
United States space agency
Also known as: NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), independent U.S. governmental agency established in 1958 for the research and development of vehicles and activities for the exploration of space within and outside Earthโs atmosphere. The organization is composed of four mission directorates: Aeronautics Research, for the development of advanced aviation technologies; Science, dealing with programs for understanding the origin, structure, and evolution of the universe, the solar system, and Earth; Space Technology, for the development of space...