The Wide Angle: 50 Years of NASA

Oct. 1, 2008 -- Fifty years ago today, NASA officially began operations as the United States' premiere space agency, shortly after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958.

From the first U.S. manned orbit around the Earth through the now-imminent retirement of its space shuttle fleet, the aging space program has seen its fair share of both triumphant and trying times.

Here Discovery Space offers expert commentary, slideshows of classic images, video and more to reflect on NASA's 50th anniversary of putting people into space.

Video

The Top 5 NASA Videos - Check out five of space agency's most impressive videos with video producer James Williams -- you haven't seen NASA like this before.

Slideshows

NASA at 50: Journey to the Moon - Find out what it took for NASA to rocket 24 men to the moon in the escalating space race in this collection of classic Mercury, Gemini and Apollo images.

NASA at 50: Rise of the Space Shuttle - Relive the space shuttle program's highs and lows in this series of storied images, from the first launch through the tragic losses of Challenger and Columbia -- and the return to flight.

NASA at 50: The Future - Gaze into NASA's next 50 years with this futuristic look at everything from high-tech spacesuits and moon bases to Mars sample return missions and a visit to Jupiter's icy moon Europa.

Experts

Ed Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator for Science - The U.S. space program is an SUV stuck on a highway when we should be visiting Mars.

Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator - NASA's best-learned lesson? It's not perfect.

Pete Worden, NASA Ames Research Center Director - Worden sums up his feelings about the space agency in a single word: disappointing.

Wayne Hale, Former Space Shuttle Program Manager - Getting out of low-Earth orbit needs to the space agency's primary goal -- along with inspiring kids to make it happen.

Scott Parazynski, NASA Astronaut - Five-time spaceflier Scott Parazynski said he's looking forward to an era of manned missions to Mars.

Mike Leinbach, Space Shuttle Launch Director - In Leinbach's eyes, NASA's greatest achievements sprang from some of its worst tragedies.

Top 10

Moon Technologies - Browse the past 50 years of moon technologies -- and the best yet to come!

For more goodies on NASA's 50th birthday, be sure to visit the When We Left Earth site's official NASA at 50 blog.

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