Signing the National Aeronautics and Space ActDwight D. Eisenhower, statement on signing the National Aeronautics and Space Act, July 29, 1958Hearth Interactive
Hearth Library
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1959), item 185, “Statement by the President Upon Signing the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. July 29, 1958,” p. 573. Digital copy: GovInfo, package PPP-1958-book1 (PDF page 617), text extracted by code and read against the page image. Eisenhower’s text only; the editors’ note below it is not copied.
English
the United States CongressThe legislature of the United States, the Senate and the House of Representatives. It created the NACA in 1915 and in 1958 passed the law that created NASA.NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics)The committee Congress set up on March 3, 1915, to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight.” Its laboratories, such as Langley, and its staff of about 8,000 became the core of NASA in 1958.NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)The United States government's civilian space agency, created by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. It began work on October 1, 1958, taking over the NACA's laboratories and staff.
United States39.8 -98.6
- 1958 The year the National Aeronautics and Space Act created NASA. President Eisenhower signed it on July 29.
- spaceflight Travel beyond the earth's air: a dream and a fiction for Kepler and Hale, worked out in numbers by Tsiolkovsky, and a national program in the United States from 1958.
- 1915 The year the United States founded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the research agency that became the core of NASA.
I HAVE TODAY signed H. R. 12575, the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.
The enactment of this legislation is an historic step, further equipping the United States for leadership in the space age. I wish to commend the Congress for the promptness with which it has created the organization and provided the authority needed for an effective national effort in the fields of aeronautics and space exploration.
The new Act contains one provision that requires comment. Section 205 authorizes cooperation with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to the Act and in the peaceful application of the results of such work, pursuant to international agreements entered into by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. I regard this section merely as recognizing that international treaties may be made in this field, and as not precluding, in appropriate cases, less formal arrangements for cooperation. To construe the section otherwise would raise substantial constitutional questions.
The present National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), with its large and competent staff and well-equipped laboratories, will provide the nucleus for the NASA. The NACA has an established record of research performance and of cooperation with the Armed Services. The combination of space exploration responsibilities with the NACA’s traditional aeronautical research functions is a natural evolution.
The enactment of the law establishing the NACA in 1915 proved a decisive step in the advancement of our civil and military aviation. The Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 should have an even greater impact on our future.
I have today signed H.R. 12575, the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.
The enactment of this legislation is an historic step, further equipping the United States for leadership in the space age. I wish to commend the Congress for the promptness with which it has created the organization and provided the authority needed for an effective national effort in the fields of aeronautics and space exploration.
The new Act contains one provision that requires comment. Section 205 authorizes cooperation with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to the Act and in the peaceful application of the results of such work, pursuant to international agreements entered into by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. I regard this section merely as recognizing that international treaties may be made in this field, and as not precluding, in appropriate cases, less formal arrangements for cooperation. To construe the section otherwise would raise substantial constitutional questions.
The present National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), with its large and competent staff and well-equipped laboratories, will provide the nucleus for the NASA. The NACA has an established record of research performance and of cooperation with the Armed Services. The combination of space exploration responsibilities with the NACA’s traditional aeronautical research functions is a natural evolution.
The enactment of the law establishing the NACA in 1915 proved a decisive step in the advancement of our civil and military aviation. The Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 should have an even greater impact on our future.