The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent federal agency in the United States that is in charge of the civil space programme, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA, which succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) on July 29, 1958, was established to give the US space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasising peaceful applications in space science. NASA has led the majority of American space exploration efforts since its inception, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and, later, the Space Shuttle.