National Aeronautics and Space Act signed – NASA is born

On 29^th July 1958, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act because of which NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was created. The alacrity with which the Act was signed and the space agency established was because the Soviet Union had won the Space race by launching their Sputnik spacecraft on 4^th October 1957.