The network was formally created in the early 1980s to provide NASA managers and engineers with real-time video of missions.

[2][3] NASA has operated a television service since the beginning of the space program for archival purposes, and to provide media outlets with video footage.

The final was "NASA TV UHD", an experimental ultra-high-definition television channel created through a Space Act Agreement with Harmonic Inc., featuring content from NASA's archives that takes advantage of the large format, with a musical audio track.

[11][12] NASA TV carried various regularly scheduled, pre-recorded educational and public relations programming 24 hours a day on its various channels.

[13] The network also provided an array of live programming, such as ISS events (spacewalks, media interviews, educational broadcasts), press conferences and rocket launches.

Before 2007, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) prohibited NASA TV from being aired by local satellite and cable providers within Canada, except for specific broadcast events.

[14] On April 20, 2007, the Commission issued a notice stating that after receiving an initial request from Mountain Cablevision and support from other Canadian broadcasters and members of the public, NASA TV had been added to the list of foreign television channels available in Canada.

and Akamai Technologies to provide streaming services for NASA TV ahead of the STS-114 mission and associated Return to Flight program after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

[18] As NASA TV is a service of the federal government of the United States, its programming is considered in the public domain for any organization or person to use as they see fit; for instance the paid programming network LifehacksDRTV and WMGM-TV uses NASA TV's educational blocks to fulfill their FCC E/I requirements for their individual station or network affiliates.