Fifty years of space exploration “for the benefit of all” is the motor behind the National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency’s accomplishments, and is the motor that will contribute to unraveling the mysteries of the Universe for decades to come.

NASA was created not only as an organism responsible for one of the most exciting parts of science – the beginning of all things – but also as an inspiration for generations to come to provide humankind with innovation in aeronautics and space exploration.

NASA has kept its promise to shape the future, and launch new endeavors to inspire the next generation of explorers, and has continued to create opportunities and stimulate innovation that will help humanity move forward into space exploration.

The accomplishments in space exploration also mean greater hopes for the future, and countless possibilities for scientists, inventors and enthusiasts outside the agency to make their own contribution to future space missions.

We’ve seen NASA in the race with the Soviet Union for the ultimate supremacy into space, at times when most believed space exploration was only a bold dream. We’ve seen NASA’s Apollo program, with its ups and downs, tragically failing, amazingly succeeding, and we’ve seen the first people landing on the Moon, on July 20, 1969, just in time to fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s wish to reach the Moon by the end of the decade.

We’ve witnessed the development of an International Space Station, a symbol of cooperation among space agencies around the world, and a step forward toward understanding more of space. We’ve seen everything from unmanned missions sent to the outskirts of our Solar System to impressive projects, such as the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts risk their lives in every mission, so that the Earth can find its place in the Universe.

In 50 years of existence, NASA has sent probes to the Moon, Mars, and as far as Jupiter, Saturn, and even Uranus. In the future, NASA is considering flyby missions even farther, to Neptune, which was last visited by Voyager 2 in 1989, and Pluto, which the New Horizons mission will reach in 2015.

Caught between financial and political issues, NASA continues its mission, and by 2015, it will launch its very own program to send a new generation of explorers to the Moon, and perhaps beyond that, to Mars and in other places in the Solar System. The agency believes it should be able to send the first manned mission to the Moon under the Constellation Program by 2020.

NASA’s remarkable capabilities have been a source of inspiration for other projects, such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX program, which recently launched the Falcon 1 vehicle into orbit, as the first privately developed vehicle rocket to orbit the Earth. Furthermore, SpaceX is a project that promises to stimulate the development of commercial orbital spaceflight.

And if all that seems to have very little in common with our every day lives, there is one thing that is not impossible to achieve: a space trip, provided by Space Adventures, a company that became known worldwide for making space tourism a reality. All it takes is a little courage and about $30 million to fulfill a dream.

Space exploration has been an element to rely on for scientific achievements, and NASA, together with space enthusiasts, will continue to pursue the dream of reaching the roots of the Universe and uncovering the mysteries in and beyond our Solar System.