In addition to sending up astronauts and space telescopes, NASA runs and broadcasts a 24-hour TV channel chock full of educational programming and coverage of live events.
But if you don't live near a space center or can't program a satellite dish, you've probably never seen it.
All that could change now that DirecTV, the satellite television company with more than 5 million subscribers, plans to broadcast the space TV network.
It will be the first time the station will be readily available to a national audience.
"I think its definitely going to give us a major boost," said Ray Castillo, NASA-TV's executive producer.
Beginning December 15, NASA-TV and several other public service broadcasts will be available to DirecTV subscribers at no additional cost, though current users of the service will have to buy a slightly larger dish to pick up the signals.
That will be just in time for the launch of space shuttle Discovery, which is set to launch on December 16 on a 10-day mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA-TV plans 24-hour coverage for the duration of the mission.
Though Castillo said he did not know how many people have access to NASA-TV through their local cable companies, the true number is probably not large by national standards.
However, satellite dish owners can pull in the station by programming their dish, and Internet users can download live video of the station from selected sites.
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