WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2015

JFK'S GOAL ACHIEVED 47 YEARS AGO TODAY

Houston, Texas (JFK+50) In May 1961, speaking to the United States Congress, President John F. Kennedy set the goal of "landing a man on the moon" before the end of the decade.  On September 12, 1962, President Kennedy spoke to 35,000 people at Rice Stadium here in Houston.  He said...

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade...because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win."

Forty-seven years ago today, July 20, 1969, JFK's vision of landing a man on the moon was achieved when astronauts Neil Armstrong* and Buzz
Aldrin** touched down on the lunar surface. With astronaut Michael Collins*** at the controls of the mother ship Columbia in lunar orbit, Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface of the moon aboard Eagle.

At 3:17 p.m., CDT Armstrong reported...

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." 

This response came from Charles Duke, Capsule Communicator based here in Houston...

"Roger, Tranquility.  We copy you on the ground.  You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.  We're breathing again."

Later, at 9:39 p.m., Neil Armstrong opened the hatch and began his walk down the ladder. He turned on a TV camera and set his left foot on the moon's surface.  Five hundred million people were watching as he stepped down from the ladder of the lunar module and said...

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

*Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio.  He served in the US Navy in the Korean War. NA was a graduate of Purdue University and later after becoming a test pilot joined the astronaut corps in 1962. His 1st space flight was on Gemini 8 in 1966. 

**Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin was born in Montclair, NJ on Jan 20, 1930. He is a graduate of West Point where he majored in mechanical engineering. 
Buzz served in Korea and flew 66 combat missions.  He joined the astronaut program in 1963.

***Michael Collins was born in Rome, Italy, the son of a US military officer, on October 31, 1930.  He attended West Point and joined the US Air Force.

MC was accepted to the astronaut program in 1963 and his 1st space flight came on Gemini 10.

SOURCES

"One Small Step:  Celebrating the First Men on the Moon," by Jerry Stone, Templar Publishing, Great Britain, 2009.

"The Eagle Has Landed: Happy Anniversary, Apollo 11," by Nate Rawlings, July 20, 2011,  www.newsfeed.time.com/

JFK Speaks at Rice University
Houston, Texas
September 12, 1962
NASA Photo

     

WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON

"WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON..."

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On May 25, 1961, fifty-three years ago today, President John F. Kennedy gave a historic speech to a joint session of the Congress which set the goal for the United States to "land a man on the moon" by the end of the decade.

President Kennedy said...

"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth."

JFK Speaking to Congress

May 25, 1961

NASA Photograph

In what he called his "Second State of the Union" message, JFK also asked Congress to fund the massive cost of an accelerated space program.

President Kennedy prefaced his remarks to Congress with these words...

"If we are to win the battle...between freedom and tyranny, (our recent)...achievements in space...should have made clear...the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere who are attempting to determine which road they should take.

Now it is time for this nation to take a...leading role in space achievement.

I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary..."

JFK admitted the Soviet Union at this point was ahead of us and that there were no guarantees that we would ever overtake their lead, but he added...

"Any failure to make this effort will make us last."

After President Kennedy set the goal of landing a man on the moon,  he added...

"No single space project...will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

The President then outlined the range of expenditures it would be necessary for Congress to approve in order to achieve this goal....

$23 million for development of a Rover nuclear rocket...
$50 million to accelerate the use of space satellites for world communication...
$75 million for a satellite system for world wide weather observation...
 $531 million total expenditure in fiscal 1962 
 $7 to $9 billion total expenditure from 1963 to 1968.

President Kennedy reminded the Congress...

"I believe we should go to the moon (but)...we must be prepared to...bear the (financial) burdens to make it successful."*

SOURCE

"May 25, 1961" JFK's Moon Shot Speech to Congress," www.space.com/

*While President John F. Kennedy did not live to see it, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin fulfilled his visionary goal 8 years later as they walked on the lunar surface, July 20, 1969. 

Sargent Shriver once said there is no way we can really understand how "visionary" and"incredible" JFK's goal was on May 25, 1961.  

Shriver said...

 "After all the moon has been up there a long time and...no one ever thought about it ever being possible for a man to walk on (it)."