The Eagle Has Landed

908 Words2 Pages

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, 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 which we intend to win, and the others, too.” (John F. Kennedy) The nineteen-sixties were the most important decade during the Space Race, because American perseverance overcame a more advanced Soviet space program and reached the moon. Accordingly, national leaders of the sixties were a huge driving force behind the Space Race as they inspired their people to literally shoot for the moon and take the lead in the ‘Space Race’. Likewise, ambitious projects like Apollo and Mercury really took off in the nineteen-sixties and paved the way to the first American in space and eventually to the moon. In addition, progress made in the nineteen-sixties paved the way for future craft design, computers, and robotics that led to American victory and the fall of communism. As the Soviets made more and more progress, the Americans were being left in the dust and the public wasn’t too happy about it. Luckily, a new decade had begun and America had a young and historical new president with had an ambitious goal of reaching the moon by the end of the decade. (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum) Unlike President Kennedy, former President Eisenhower thought little of Soviet progress in the fifties, and did not see the need to establish a space program. After Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in April 1961, Kennedy became determined to catch up to the communists, and so he delivered his famous moon speech. As a result, ‘If th... ... middle of paper ... ..."The Apollo Program History." Human Space Flight (HSF). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Web. 07 Mar. 2010. "John F. Kennedy." The White House. United States of America. Web. 07 Mar. 2010. Mills, Jennifer. "John F. Kennedy and the Space Program." The University of Alabama. Web. 07 Mar. 2010. "Our First Lunar Program: What Did We Get From Apollo?" National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Web. 07 Mar. 2010. "Program Overview." Kennedy Space Center. Ed. Kay Grinter. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Web. 7 Mar. 2010. "Space Program." Jfklibrary.org. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. Web. 07 Mar. 2010. "The Uhuru Satellite." HEASARC. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Web. 07 Mar. 2010. Whitehouse, David. "The Story from Mission Control." BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Web. 7 Mar. 2010.

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