National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Cultural  

1. An agency of the United States government, charged with directing civilian programs in aeronautics research and space exploration. NASA maintains several facilities, most notably the Johnson Space Center in Houston (which selects space crew personnel and is responsible for ground direction of space flights), and the launching pads at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

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Example Sentences

The company has built a large business selling Starlink to consumers, and often works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and U.S. national-security agencies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, has been in the news a lot lately, outlining its strategic objectives and preparing to fly astronauts to the moon and back in just a few days.

From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026

Postal Service, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Public Broadcasting Service were once important and excellent institutions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which runs the United States planetary space program, is subject to frequent and unpredictable budget cuts.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan