NASA is the United States government agency that runs civilian space travel and the scientific study of space. It plans missions, builds and flies spacecraft, and studies Earth from above as well as the moon, planets, and stars. The letters stand for National Aeronautics and Space Administration: aeronautics is flying in Earth’s air, and space is beyond it. People in Taiwan usually just say NASA. It is not a company, and it is not the army — though the US military has its own space work, and other countries have their own agencies. When news says “NASA found…,” it means this American civilian agency, not every space programme in the world.