The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 created NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the act on July 29, 1958, amid intense competition with the Soviet Union. The launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 had heightened American concern about scientific and technological leadership in space.
NASA began operations on October 1, 1958. It absorbed the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, along with its laboratories and personnel. The new civilian agency was responsible for coordinating U.S. aeronautical and space activities, separate from military space programs.
The law did not create NASA as a military organization. Its civilian mission included research, exploration, and the peaceful use of space. NASA later managed the Apollo program, which achieved the first human Moon landing with Apollo 11 in 1969.