The following is a guest post by Elina Lee, a library technician (metadata) in the Law Library of Congress Digital Resources Division.
In 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act (Public Law 85-568, 72 Stat. 426), and it was signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on July 29, 1958. The act “provided for research into the problems of flight within and outside the earth’s atmosphere” and established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 1959, the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences published a staff report on Project Mercury which was being overseen by NASA. This report can be found in the Serial Set 1959 (S. Rpt. No. 1014, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., at 1 (1959) reprinted in Serial Set vol. 12153.) This report provides information about Project Mercury and its goal to have a man orbit the Earth. This report also detailed the project budget, which was $37,661,200 plus $20,750,000 in supplemental funds in fiscal year 1959. The 1960 cost of Project Mercury was set at $70 million (S. Rpt. No. 1014, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., at 17 (1959) reprinted in Serial Set vol. 12153.)
