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00:00 Decades after its creation in the late 1950s, NASA remains one of the most respected and
00:05 celebrated scientific organisations humankind has ever seen.
00:09 It's always been at the cutting edge of many of the most exciting discoveries our
00:13 species has made.
00:15 But is modern NASA just a shadow of its former self?
00:19 This is Unveiled, and today we're taking a closer look at NASA.
00:23 Then vs Now.
00:26 Do you need the big questions answered?
00:28 Are you constantly curious?
00:30 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
00:33 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:36 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration as we know it today was officially established
00:40 in 1958, though its roots go back much further.
00:44 A body like NASA, responsible for aviation research, called the National Advisory Committee
00:50 for Aeronautics, was founded more than a hundred years ago, in 1915.
00:55 Their combat became crucial in the Second World War, making NACA an invaluable resource.
01:00 But everything changed not just for NASA, but for the entire world in 1957.
01:06 In October of that year, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite,
01:11 and fears began to grow about what Soviet domination in space would mean for the world.
01:16 The following year, NASA was born, and straight away it got to work playing catch-up with
01:21 the USSR's fledgling space programme.
01:23 Undoubtedly, the 1960s were when NASA reached its height.
01:28 Not bad for an agency that only began life at the very end of the 1950s.
01:32 The Cold War was raging, with the US and USSR racing to build the biggest nuclear bombs
01:38 and the biggest rockets to launch their warheads.
01:41 Space was a public way to compete and show just how powerful these rockets were.
01:46 And in 1962, President John F. Kennedy made his famous speech announcing that America's
01:51 intention was to put the first humans on the moon.
01:54 Although the Soviets won more space landmarks - like the first space station and the first
01:59 human in orbit - the United States ultimately won the space race.
02:04 NASA's spending was at its height in 1966, three years before Apollo 11's groundbreaking
02:11 success, and you'd have been forgiven for thinking at the time that this budget would
02:15 only go up.
02:16 Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and as yet, NASA hasn't reached the lofty heights of the
02:22 late 1960s again.
02:24 Following the death of the visionary engineer, Sergei Korolev, in 1966, the Soviet space
02:30 programme floundered.
02:32 America could go to the moon, but the competition had become less urgent, and world leaders
02:36 were working to end the Cold War.
02:39 In 1972, Apollo 17 was launched, which was to be the final crewed lunar mission for many,
02:46 many decades.
02:47 But what was it like to be a part of NASA, or to live in the United States in general
02:51 during those exciting years?
02:53 The 1960s were a decade where everything changed for so many people.
02:57 In space, in particular, we went from just barely being able to put someone into orbit,
03:02 to sending astronauts all the way to the moon, over 200,000 miles away, and bringing them
03:07 back safely.
03:09 Astronauts and engineers who worked on the Apollo programme have said that in stark contrast
03:13 to today, money was no object for NASA back then.
03:17 Whatever NASA needed, no matter the cost, it was given, allowing huge freedom for its
03:21 engineers to troubleshoot and problem-solve without worrying about budgets and balances.
03:27 Because nobody had gone to the moon before, to an extent the engineers had to make it
03:31 up as they went along.
03:32 They were constantly coming up with novel ways to solve problems that nobody else in
03:36 history had encountered before, and working at breakneck speed all the while.
03:41 According to the engineer Glenn A. Robinson, many worked seven days a week, coming together
03:46 in what he dubs the "Apollo Spirit".
03:49 While the names of the astronauts are the ones the public remembers, NASA's ranks were
03:53 full of unsung heroes, including the engineers, technicians, and mathematicians who worked
03:59 behind the scenes.
04:00 The 2016 movie Hidden Figures was a watershed moment for NASA history buffs, depicting the
04:06 black female mathematicians who did the complex calculations that ensured the success of NASA's
04:11 missions.
04:12 If you were a scientist, NASA was the place to be, and the achievements of the Apollo
04:17 program are difficult to understate.
04:20 Today, in a lot of ways, NASA actually hasn't changed.
04:24 It still wants to break down barriers to get people from all walks of life into STEM.
04:28 It's still at the bleeding edge of science.
04:31 And it's still a dream job for most of those who work there.
04:34 But a lot has happened between 1969 and the present day to change NASA, and not all of
04:40 it good.
04:41 Sadly, plenty of people involved in space research have lost their lives.
04:45 Not just astronauts, but engineers involved in tragic and avoidable accidents that weren't
04:50 well-publicized at the time or since.
04:52 Though NASA's funding was curbed in the early 70s, public perception of the organization
04:57 changed dramatically in 1986, following the catastrophic Challenger disaster, in which
05:03 all seven crew members died.
05:05 It was a horrible event witnessed live around the world, and was one of the first major
05:09 blows against America's space shuttle program.
05:12 Nearly 20 years later, in 2003, history repeated itself.
05:17 The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry due to damage during launch.
05:22 In 2011, the final space shuttle mission was conducted, which meant that the Russian Soyuz
05:27 spacecraft became the only one available to ferry astronauts to and from the International
05:32 Space Station.
05:34 And even the ISS, despite being a massive testament to human engineering, isn't a
05:39 product of NASA alone, and is now operated jointly by five international space agencies.
05:45 NASA's unrivaled superiority has, over the years, been challenged.
05:49 NASA is today struggling for other reasons, too.
05:52 Public interest in space is arguably waning, and many young children nowadays perhaps dream
05:57 of being social media stars before they dream of being astronauts or engineers.
06:02 There's also a growing distrust of NASA in some corners, as conspiracy theories gain
06:08 more attention and popularity.
06:10 Some people have begun to believe that NASA is hiding all sorts of things.
06:15 And of course, there's the long-standing conspiracy that NASA never went to the moon
06:19 at all.
06:20 But it's not all doom and gloom, for the world's biggest space agency, or for space
06:24 research in general.
06:26 If NASA's own projects do come to fruition, then humanity certainly has a bright future
06:30 ahead.
06:31 For starters, the Artemis program is fully underway, and is still aiming for 2024 as
06:37 the year humans will return to the moon (although just for a flyby) with a landing in 2025.
06:42 It's hoped that Artemis can renew interest in space travel and encourage a new generation
06:47 of science-minded kids who want to go into the field.
06:51 Part of Armitis also involves the Lunar Gateway, a permanent space station orbiting the moon,
06:56 the first in history.
06:57 With the Gateway, it'll be easier than ever to get people to the moon and back, and even
07:02 to send them down to the surface in person.
07:05 The entire Artemis program is then touted by NASA as a stepping stone to Mars, as sending
07:10 humans to Mars remains a goal that every space company covets.
07:15 The Gateway could also lead to space bases located physically on the moon, instead of
07:19 just orbiting it, which will teach us a lot about how to build similar habitats and space
07:24 stations again on Mars.
07:26 NASA has plenty of other interesting missions scheduled, too.
07:30 In September 2022, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test was carried out.
07:35 Known as DART, the craft collided with the asteroid DeMorphos on purpose, successfully
07:40 deflecting it.
07:42 DeMorphos certainly wasn't on its way to crash into Earth, but the test proved that
07:46 hitting an asteroid with a big enough object can knock it off course and potentially save
07:51 us from an impact event.
07:53 Still just in the realm of asteroids, NASA is also planning to launch a probe to look
07:57 at the space rock 16 Psyche, an M-type asteroid so rich in resources it might be worth quintillions
08:05 of dollars.
08:06 If space mining is to become big business, then NASA is aiming to lead the way.
08:11 It has its sights set on places beyond the asteroid belt, as well.
08:15 By the end of the 2020s, NASA will have launched DragonFlock, a spacecraft being sent to Saturn's
08:20 moon Titan, in order to see whether maybe, someday, this particular far-off world could
08:26 be another home for humanity.
08:29 For all that NASA has seemingly lost, then, there's still huge reason to remain optimistic.
08:35 But what do you think?
08:36 Can NASA ever return to the glory days of the 1960s?
08:40 Will mass interest in space hit those heights again?
08:43 Or has the agency inescapably fallen behind the times?
08:47 Let us know your views in the comments.
08:49 For now, NASA holds - and probably always will hold - a special place in the public
08:54 consciousness.
08:55 As a vanguard in science and space exploration.
08:58 The more we all care about outer space, the better chance it has of exploring it in the
09:02 modern day.
09:04 The more we all need outer space, the more likely it is that NASA will continue to re-emerge
09:08 as a leading light for humanity.
09:11 Then versus now, it hasn't always been a smooth ride.
09:14 There have been huge ups and terrible downs.
09:17 But it's a journey that will continue into the future.
09:21 What do you think?
09:22 Is there anything we missed?
09:23 Let us know in the comments.
09:24 Check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell
09:29 for our latest content.