NASA commemorates its 50th anniversary

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has joined with Discovery Communications to commemorate the U.S. space agency's 50th anniversary.

The space agency, which was created by the National Aeronautics and Space Act, began operations Oct. 1, 1958.

The partnership was announced Wednesday in New York during a premiere screening of "In the Shadow of the Moon," a film in which crew members from NASA's Apollo missions tell their story. The Discovery Channel will air the world television premiere of the film next summer.

"This partnership with Discovery enables NASA to bring the excitement of 50 years of exploration and discovery to a wider audience," said Robert Hopkins, NASA's chief of strategic communications. "This leverages NASA's compelling content with Discovery's state-of-the-art production capability and technology to tell the NASA story -- past, present and future -- through a variety of media and platforms."

Special programming on the Discovery and Science channels next year will celebrate NASA with never-before-seen archival footage. Podcasts and interactive features at Discovery's Web site will also enable viewers and users to take a closer look at NASA's history and its plans for the future.