NASA founded

Presided Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Act defines the functions of the Administration:

(1) plan, direct, and conduct aeronautical and space activities; (2) arrange for participation by the scientific community in planning scientific measurements and observations to be made through use of aeronautical and space vehicles . . . and (3) provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results there of.