The Pioneering Work of Max FagetĪfter receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1943, Faget served for three years as a submarine naval officer during World War II. After successfully launching its own artificial satellite, Explorer 1, the agency set its sights on achieving human spaceflight and code-named the mission Project Mercury.Ĭentral to the success of this mission were the engineering achievements of NIHF Inductee Max Faget, who conceived of and designed the first space capsule. While NASA’s goals were scientific in nature, the agency’s main priority at the time was to help America overtake the Soviet Union in its space technology and capabilities. From this urgency, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) was born. Eisenhower approved unprecedented government investments in the research and development of space and rocket propulsion technology. For the United States, the Soviet Union’s achievement represented a very real national security threat and made the western power realize just how far behind it was technologically. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching Sputnik 1 - the first artificial satellite - into space. Read below to learn more about Max Faget, the man who invented the first human space capsule. This month the National Inventors Hall of Fame® (NIHF) is celebrating the 50 th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission with an exhibit highlighting our Inductees who have helped make spaceflight possible.
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