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NASA

American  
[nas-uh] / ˈnæs ə /

noun

  1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration: the federal agency that institutes and administers the civilian programs of the U.S. government that deal with aeronautical research and the development of launch vehicles and spacecraft.


NASA British  
/ ˈnæsə /

acronym

  1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What is NASA? NASA is short for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a civilian agency of the United States government that specializes in space exploration and research about flight and aircraft. Aeronautics is the science of flight. Although NASA is most known for space travel and research, it also researches things like supersonic flight, energy-efficient aircraft, and drones. Over the years, NASA has advanced space exploration and made many contributions to science. Its notable programs and missions have included astronaut moon landings, Mars rovers, satellites around planets, and interstellar telescopes. One of NASA’s earliest and most famous programs was the Apollo program, which put the first person on the moon on July 20, 1969. NASA runs numerous missions and programs at its facilities across the United States.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Isaacman indicated that JPL could come under scrutiny even before he took over NASA.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2026

Reported plans to soon demonstrate a key technology SpaceX needs to land humans on the moon for NASA, though, are unlikely, Granda said.

From MarketWatch • May 21, 2026

NASA, which had just been launched four years prior under President Dwight Eisenhower, showed off its goods in the Science Pavilion.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026

According to NASA, the processor is functioning as intended and has shown performance levels roughly 500 times greater than the radiation-hardened chips currently used in spacecraft.

From Science Daily • May 15, 2026

Now that I'm back in contact with NASA, I have to go back to being all "safety first."

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

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