Happy birthday, NASA

50 years ago today, U.S. President Eisenhower signed a very important piece of paper. The paper was legislation that, with the president's signature, brought the National Aeronautics and Space Administration into existence.

I was planning a big post about why NASA is so important, but most anybody reading this blog already knows. Also: Wired beat me to it.

Last year I was lucky enough to visit the Kennedy Space Center. If you're one of the people who doubt the sheer magnitude of NASA's accomplishments, I suggest you do as I did and visit one of the locations where a Saturn V (pictured above) is on display.

UPDATE: The BBC, in honour of NASA's golden anniversary, has posted a collection of videos marking some of the Agency's milestones. Definitely worth a look.