1958

NASA

NASA begins operations and succeeds the NACA

Thousands of people went home on 30 September working for the NACA and came back the next morning working for NASA — often to the same desks and the same projects.

Opening day, 1 October 1958

NASA officially began operations on 1 October 1958, following enactment of the National Aeronautics and Space Act on 29 July. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics formally ceased to exist that day.

Its functions, personnel, laboratories and facilities became the new agency's institutional core: Langley, Ames and Lewis transferred as NASA research centers, together with the Muroc high-speed-flight station and the Wallops sounding-rocket facility.

Employees who left work on 30 September as NACA personnel returned the next morning as NASA personnel, generally without a change to their daily work routines.

What the new agency inherited

NASA's historical data book counts 7,867 permanent employees on opening day; the agency's own summaries round the inherited workforce to 8,000. It also inherited three major laboratories, two smaller test facilities and a $100 million annual budget.

The first headquarters operated from the Dolley Madison House complex in Washington. Administrator T. Keith Glennan addressed its 170 staff in the courtyard that day.

What transferred, and what waited

Executive Order 10783 transferred responsibility for Project Vanguard and specified Defense Department space projects to NASA on 1 October. JPL and Army Ballistic Missile Agency elements were incorporated through later 1958 actions rather than on opening day.

Glennan approved the human-satellite project within days. The Space Task Group was informally organized on 8 October and formally established on 5 November, and the effort was named Project Mercury on 26 November.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 7 sources 2 audit passes Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 1958-10-01.

What the sources leave uncertain

NASA commonly rounds the inherited workforce to 8,000. Its historical data book gives 7,867 permanent employees and a slightly smaller count for personnel physically based at the former laboratories.