Happy Birthday, JPL! Pioneering Rocket, Exploration Lab Turns 80

NASA's hub of planetary exploration just turned 80 years old. Those 3 seconds helped launch the space age: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was born that day, more than 20 years before NASA came into existence. JPL engineers helped master the rocket technology that has fueled the American space program, and today the facility is NASA's leading center for the robotic exploration of deep space.