NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. Established on July 29, 1958, by the National Aeronautics and Space Act. NASA often works with space agencies from foreign countries such as Japan and Russia for a number of missions.

In addition to the space program, it is also responsible for long-term civilian and military aerospace research. Since February 2006 NASA's self-described mission statement is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research."

Appearances

 * Several astronauts or NASA employees have appeared in Muppet/Sesame productions:
 * Buzz Aldrin
 * Frank Caldeiro
 * Soichi Noguchi (for JAXA)
 * Sally Ride
 * Mario Runco


 * In 1981, as part of NASA's morning wake-up call tradition, the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia, part of the STS-2 mission, were greeted by Pigs in Space on two consecutive mornings. Specially recorded by the Muppet performers for this occasion, two separate comedy routines were heard, one on the morning of November 13, and another on November 14.


 * In a 1992 "Wish You Were Here" segment on Sesame Street, Gabi and Miles take a tour of the Kennedy Space Center. They learn about how rockets are launched into space, along with a group of other kids. Miles works at Mission Control, while Gabi pretends to be an astronaut.


 * When Slimey travelled to the Moon in Sesame Street Season 29, NASA provided footage of past space missions for several episodes.


 * Kermit the Frog visited NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas as part of his 50th anniversary world tour in 2005. Kermit also appeared in NASA promotional material on the moon.

Atlantis Launch
Elmo appeared at Cape Canaveral, Florida during the week leading up to the final launch of NASA's shuttle program on July 8, 2011. He spoke with astronaut Leland Melvin, interviewed Mike Massimino and Douglas H. Wheelock for a press event, and tweeted updates on the Sesame Street Twitter account.
 * Videos
 * Elmo in the VAB
 * Elmo in the Shuttle
 * Press conference with Elmo
 * Kennedy Space Center Q&A with Elmo
 * Elmo interviewed on NBC News
 * Elmo interviewed by ‪CTTechJunkie

Trivia

 * In January 2010, Cookie Monster wrote on Sesame Street's offical Twitter account, "Sometimes Moon look like giant cookie. Must look into joining space program." NASA responded a short time later from their official Twitter feed with information on how to join the space program.
 * The Solar Dynamics Observatory mission at NASA has a "mascot", a chicken named Camilla.