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History of the american space program
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“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.
In the 1960s the Cold War was at its peak, with both the USSR and America trying to spread their ideologies onto the rest of the world. The world was still uneasy due to the Korean War. In the public’s eyes, nuclear Armageddon was only a press of a button away. The Space Race was a welcome peaceful distraction for the world. The USSR and the United States were constantly trying to best each other in celestial exploration. In 1962, American President, John F Kennedy announced to America that by the end of the decade America would land a man on the moon. Kennedy carefully chose the audience and language of his speech to convince the public to support the Apollo Moon Program.
As a result of the successful mission that landed the first men on the moon, called the Apollo 11 mission, many people were inspired to provide commentary on this landing. Although these texts describe unique individual purposes about this landing, they all effectively support their purposes through the use of several rhetorical devices.
Kennedy had realized that the only way to overtake the Soviets after falling so far behind, would be by putting the first man on the moon. The US morale had taken a serious blow following Sputnik and the first cosmonaut in space, Yuri Gagarin. On September 12th, 1962, Kennedy delivered his famous speech, saying “We choose to go to the moon.” Kennedy knew that it was essential to gather support behind a manned mission to the moon from the American public. Although many argued that it would be easier, and more efficient to send an unmanned mission to the moon, it was more about the morale boost and the message a man on the moon would send to the
Works Cited The "Apollo Investigation" - "The 'Apollo Investigation'" Aulis is online at http://www.aulis.com/. 11 Feb. 2001. 9 Dec. 2001 <http://www.aulis.com/>. Dumoulin, Jim. A. The "Apollo 11" Kennedy Space Center Launching A Vision!
Samuel Crompton says,”Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition.”(Crompton 56). The real reason that the United States joined the Space Race was to compete with the soviet union. JFK makes this very clear. The Soviets were ahead of us and this was unacceptable, being behind technologically was detrimental to morale.The Cold War wasn’t really a war at all. It was just an arms race, the space race was just an extension of the arms race. It was never really intended to have any scientific, technological, or strategic benefits. Dwight D. Eisenhower may have planned for the space program to focus on science, but when kennedy took the office he used NASA as a piece of propaganda. He never had any intention of using the space program for research. When Kennedy was first deciding whether or not to create a space program he sent a memo to his vice president Lyndon B. Johnson asking him to research a few things. None of JFK’s questions had anything to do with science or technology. They were all about the Soviet Union 's space program. The first questions was, “Do we have a chance of beating the Soviets by putting a laboratory in space, or by a trip around the moon, or by a rocket land on the moon, or by a rocket go to the moon and back with a man.”(Kennedy). JFK’s sole interest was beating the Soviets. He didn’t care about any other benefits. Everything else came second to beating the
A. The Space Age at the Grass Roots: NASA, Cleveland, 1958-1990. (2006): 114, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40643956 (accessed April 18, 2014). Kennedy, John F. “1962 Rice University Transcript.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
JFK made it sound that anything was possible, even going to the moon. Although Russia was the first country to send a satellite into space, Kennedy intended to advance the space program to make a statement and show that the US’ industrial superiority and challenge the U.S. into becoming an even stronger nation by setting allowances for the specific programs for instance before 1970 First Man on the moon.. The Kennedy Administration was known for it's foreign policy much more so than it's domestic policies. It had a sympathy for the Civil Rights movement and did back up integration every way possible but was unable to achieve any substantive reform.
In September 1961, president John. F. Kennedy delivers one of his best inspirational speeches titled “We choose to go to the Moon”. This notorious speech was addressed at Rice University in Houston Texas to a very fortunate crowd of students. The significance of his timing is both vital and genius for at the time being the cold war between the United States of America and Russia had been in mid-hype, Russia leading in the space race. This brought doubt to the Americas power and authority thus giving his speech more influential drive. Kennedys fear of the Soviet Union landing on the moon first is because he did not want to see the accomplishment “governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of
Hermann, Burkely. "Legacy of the Space Race." How the Space Race Fueled Innovation. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
John F. Kennedy - Presidential Library and Museum. Space Program. 2014. 16 April 2014 .
On September 12, 1962 John Franklin Kennedy charged the nation to achieve what no other civilization had done before; he charged the United States to place a man on the moon. Kennedy delivered his man on the moon speech in a time of great peril for the United States. It appeared that the Soviet Union was rising faster than the United States was posed to take our place as the world’s super power. His moving speech in Rice Stadium inspired the nation and other nations, to take the challenge and travel to the moon. Kennnedy use of allusions, repetition, and rhetorical questions motivate and embolden his audience, and make a difference that would last forever.
~"NASA Moon Landing." - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Surprisingly, the United States’ space program started with the Cold War. The Cold war pushed the United States and the Soviet Union into a space race in which both nations rapidly developed space programs and tried to best each other in space exploration (Cold War 1). The Kennedy Space Center was built in Florida as a control center which handled many of the shuttle launches into space (NASA 1). The Space Center was built in Florida for many specific reasons including climate and location (Matson 1). The rapid development of the Space program and the Kennedy Space Center significantly changed the development of the surrounding communities in various ways. The development of NASA and the Space Center was undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and influential undertakings of its time.
...erful for social objectives. Technology, especially in aerospace engineering and electronic communication, advanced greatly during this period. Today over a thousand artificial satellites orbit earth, relaying communications data around the planet and facilitating remote sensing of data. The moon landing stood for a symbol of the insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the unknown. To win the Space Race we had to be the first to land a man on the moon and for that moment in the tumultuous 60’s, our country came together in celebration and pride. The citizens of the U.S made the journey possible; through their contributions to the space effort, or even if they just supported the effort they were helping the cause. John F. Kennedy requested, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” We responded, we prevailed, we triumphed.
In the past 100 years, we have made much advancement in all areas of society. The way people live has changed drastically just in the past century. Technology in particular has advanced more in these last 100 years then all previous time combined. For example, because of the research done by many innovative and dedicated individuals such as the Wright Brothers who were the first to sustain flight in a powered airplane, we are able to fly all over the world in a matter of hours in jet propelled pressurized aircraft. One hundred years ago, the thought of man flying in a machine was insane. The Wright Brothers helped to realize the dream of manned flight. Many years later, after the idea of manned flight becoming a reality, space exploration was the next step. In 1969, many people did not believe what happened. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. They posted an American flag, explored, collected space rocks and came back home. Many Americans did not believe that the technology existed to go that far. Today, several missions a year are launched using manned space shuttles that can be flown back to earth like gliders and reused on future space missions.