1976 Viking 1 sends back the first close-up images of Mars.

1969 Apollo 11 astronauts land successfully on the moon.

1965 Mariner 4 flies past Mars, sending back the first images of the Red Planet's surface.

1961 Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space. Kennedy vows to land Americans on the moon.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are giant bubbles of ionized gas. If Earth is caught in their crosshairs, they can induce electric currents that surge into pipelines, cables and electrical transformers.

Solar proton events are floods of high-energy protons that occasionally accompany flares and CMEs. They can zap data in electronic circuits and give astronauts and airline passengers an extra dose of radiation.

Solar flares have cost the airline industry millions of dollars.

You have already been affected by solar storms and do not know it.

The last major space storm caused an electrical blackout in Quebec.

$4 billion in satellite losses can be traced to space weather damage .

NASA has been issued over 6,300 patents, nearly one in a thousand of all patents ever issued by the U.S. Patent Office (since 1790).

NASA entered into over 250 Space Act Agreements with private and other external entities for development of dual-use technology targeted to Mission Directorate technology needs.

Contrary to common belief, NASA did not invent Tang, Velcro, or Teflon. NASA has, however, used all three in its programs.

Well-known products that NASA claims as spin-offs include memory foam (originally named temper foam), freeze-dried food, firefighting equipment, emergency "space blankets", Dustbusters, cochlear implants, and now Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuits.

Portable, self-contained power tools were originally developed to help Apollo astronauts drill for moon samples. This technology has lead to development of such tools as the cordless vacuum cleaner, power drill, shrub trimmers, and grass shears.

Joystick controllers are used for lots of things, including computer games and vehicles for people with disabilities. These devices evolved from research to develop a controller for the Apollo Lunar Rover, and from other NASA research into how humans actually operate (called "human factors").

There are a total of nine cameras on each rover, along with a exploratory arm equipped with a pair of spectrometers, magnets, microscopic imaging device and a rock abrasion tool.

In 2009, Spirit became stuck in soft soil and was immobilized. It now operates as a stationary science laboratory.

Each rover is designed as a six-wheeled vehicle powered by solar energy. They stand nearly five feet tall, 7.5 feet long, a little over five feet wide and have a weight of 400 pounds.

The rovers were designed to last 90 days on Mars. Spirit landed on Jan. 4, 2004, and Opportunity landed on Jan. 25, 2004.

The temperatures on Mars may be as low as -105° C (-157° F) during the night. Solar panels on the MERs will use the daytime sun to recharge the batteries and operate the vehicle.

The rovers can travel up to 100 meters (110 yards) a day, however, most daily trips will be less so that the rover can study the soil, rocks, atmosphere, and so on. To keep the batteries and electronics warm there are 8 heaters.

The Administrator of NASA is appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the US Senate. Major General Charles Bolden, USMC (ret.) is the current and 12th NASA Administrator; he serves as the senior space science advisor to the President.