NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin kicked off the agency's 40th anniversary party Thursday with a simple proclamation: "When it comes to pioneering the future, we are just getting started."
NASA, which was created on Oct. 1, 1958, will celebrate its anniversary with a series of events throughout the remainder of year and into 1999.
In an address to NASA employees, Goldin said that the agency succeeded because "we dared to dream."
"A space program that is 40 years old has sent astronauts to the moon, robots to Mars, spacecraft to the farthest reaches of our solar system, and soon will help build the International Space Station," Goldin said. "And for every step we take out there, we have contributed to a better quality of life right here."
The celebration will continue with various space missions that recognize NASA's past and future.
"What will always define this aeronautics and space program is our firm belief that there will forever be something to invent, somewhere to discover, someplace to visit," Goldin said.
In the spirit of this statement, NASA will launch the Deep Space 1 mission Oct. 25 to demonstrate the first ion propulsion engine to operate in space. Four days later, in a nod to the past, 77-year-old Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, will join the crew aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
In November and December, NASA will launch the first components of the space station from Baikonur, Kazahkstan and Kennedy Space Center. Other missions scheduled for the next few months include the launch of the Mars Climate Orbiter in December and the Mars Polar Lander in January 1999.
NASA will also focus on environmental research in upcoming missions. The agency will launch the QuikScat satellite on Nov. 24 to study ocean winds and the El Nino effect. The EOS-AM-1 satellite, scheduled for launch in the summer of 1999, will be the first of a new group of Earth-observing satellites.
For more information on NASA's celebration, visit their 40th anniversary Web site.
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