The Soviet Union sent the first satellite in orbit in 1957, to start the marathon of deceptions to be the first country to the moon. The Soviets had a serious head start, sending a dog, Laika, into space, becoming the first country to send a living being into space. The U.S. had some serious catching up to do, and we did not want to be second to the Soviets in anything. Because of the dangerous drive that the U.S. imputed into the quest for domination in space, we were able to top the Soviets, and prove our power once again. Although we ended up victorious in the space race, the country needed to be convinced to join the competition. President Kennedy delivered a riveting speech to Rice university, thoroughly convincing the country of the importance of space exploration. He used many good arguments, and tugged on emotional and ethical heartstrings. His arguments were accurate, …show more content…
He condenses the 50,000 years of human history into 50 years, and condenses U.S. into 1. JFK reminds the audience of the progress the U.S. have made since the founding of the country, and reminds us of the rise to becoming a world power. Kennedy goes on to suggest an exploration of space, saying “Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward”. The condensation of history achieves 2 things. First, it give the listeners or readers a sense of how much the U.S. has actually achieved in it’s short time as a country. Second, it provides belief and hope to the audience, making them wonder what the U.S. can achieve in another “2 years”. Maybe the U.S. can send a man to the moon, and beat out the Soviets to the next frontier. Achieving space exploration though was impossible though, without the support of the country, and this speech, and this opening persuasion is vital to convincing the country into joining the space
In 1961, John F. Kennedy announced his submission to the “space race”. A mission he was determined to
The speech I am mentioning is often referred to as the “We Choose To Go To The Moon” speech. It was roughly 20 minutes long and was delivered in Houston, Texas, at Rice University to students and faculty. He starts his speech by providing the audience with facts about man’s inventions and discoveries, mentioning all the way back to cave men and how they used animal skin as clothing. From there John F. Kennedy moved on in history chronologically to discuss how we learned to write, use a cart with wheels, study religion, create the printing press, and develop the steam engine. He also mentioned television, airplanes, nuclear power, and telephones. He says that we need to move forward, and talks about how space will be the means of the progression of the United States. Kennedy explains that the race to space will go on whether the United States takes part in it or not, and a nation that wants to be a world leader needs to come first in the race, and not be behind. He says that we, as a country, have vowed to fill outer space with instruments of knowledge and understanding, not weapons of mass destruction. He explains how he wishes to e...
The Soviet’s were responsible for putting man on the moon, rovers on Mars, and launching the Hubble Space Telescope. Indeed, it was the United States’ foes that drove the U.S. to accomplish perhaps the greatest feats of the twentieth century. Following the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II, tensions between former allies, the United States and the Soviet Union, began to grow. In the following decades, the two superpowers would duke it out in competitions and tremendous shows of nationalism. They formed unmatchable rivalries in politics, economics, sciences, and sports. These rivalries would become clear when two countries competed in the space race, a competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union concerning achievements in the field of space exploration. The Soviet’s took the early lead as they put the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. The launch of Sputnik 1 established a sense of fear into the American Public, resulting in the creation of NASA in the late 1950’s which opened the door for space exploration today and for future generations.
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
Early on in the race, the USSR was very successful. In 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, which triggered the start of the space race (John F. Kennedy). The United States began to scramble, trying to catch up with the Soviets. However, soon after, the Soviet Union completed another huge success. They sent the first man to orbit Earth (John F. Kennedy). In 1961 the USSR’s Yuri Gagarin became the first human to ever orbit the Earth (John F. Kennedy). The United States was still unsuccessful and beginning to look weak. After that, America got serious. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy asked Congress for around eight billion dollars to build up the space program over the next five years (John F. Kennedy). The president declared, “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth” (John F. Kennedy).
...space, so he asked congress for 7 billion through 9 billion dollars over the next 5 years, for the space program. Within a year Gus Grissom and Alan Shepard became the first Americans in space. Although America wasn’t the first to space we had accomplished Kennedy’s goal.
The Cold War presented the United States with a unique decision. The Soviet Union had created a space program and the United States needed to decide if a space program would be beneficial for them. The Soviets sent probes out to space, and soon American probes followed. There are many reasons that the U.S. could have made this decision, but two reasons are more prominent that the others. Firstly the United States found it necessary to compete with the Soviets, and they could not accept the fact that the U.S.S.R had something that they didn’t. Secondly, JFK and his administration thought that space was the final frontier, and it would provide valuable scientific research. Ultimately, John F Kennedy and the United States decided to create a space
In the passage, Kennedy uses significant type of diction such as asunder, foe, forebears, writ, and wrought. Many of the words used have a formal and mature connotation. Considering that Kennedy was so young, he was often critiqued for this. Therefore, instead of speaking in an informal tone, he spoke formally and respectfully to give the effect that he was wise with his knowledge. He uses many different forms of syntax to put emphasis on moving forward with the nation. “Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.” and “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” are examples of his expectations of how the future will bring new and improved innovations. In the speech there are many different situations where he tends to use opposites next to each other in comparison. “Symbolizing and end as well as a beginning” these quotes throughout the speech, imply that the tone has adjusted from the original course, wandering from the tradition it has always been. His tone was well understood, civil and defined by diction allowing all of the audience to be
The Americans took a much more urgent approach after seeing what the U.S.S.R. was truly capable of. The United States would respond with various satellites including those of the Explorer Series and more. However, the Soviet Union would again one-up the United States, and all of their now seemingly feeble satellite launches, by putting the first man into outer space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. Now the quest gained an even more competitive drive and the United States soon put Alan B. Shepard into space twenty-three days later. The Space Race was truly a trek for the firsts of history, essentially just exterrestrial one-ups throughout an extended period of time. That very same year, John F. Kennedy founded NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, just for that purpose, to explore the world beyond their own, while maintaining the central aim, to beat the Soviets outright. JFK was a leading power in this race, and “by giving NASA programs top priority, his actions essentially played on American fears of communism and implicitly inferred that the Eisenhower administration had not done enough to meet the Sputnik challenge. Too many Americans were beginning to feel a need to vindicate the ‘long-standing communist boast that theirs was the superior system for galvanizing human productivity’” (Koman 43). Winning this space race was way more than just an extraterrestrial victory, it would hopefully squander the communists’ hopes and assert true American dominance. The United States sought to eliminate any presumption of communist superiority and did so in the near future by winning this Cold War space race, thanks to the execution of a truly unimaginable
For some reason, NASA is just perfectly fine with watching men and women die right in front of them on their own computer screens. The man has been stuck up on Mars for 687 sols. That is 708 days in earth terms. Yes, he is the first person on to not only live, but survive on Mars for 708 days. That gives his hometown some huge publicity and major fame. All of this could have been avoided though. Mark could not gotten severely hurt during the mission. Mark could not have died multiple times while living on Mars. He could have not had to travel with one rover and all the way to the MAV. He could have not lived on limited water, while almost killing himself trying to create more water, while trying to maintain
Space travel isn’t worth the money we have been spending. Kennedy wanted to do more space travel, but I don’t think space travel is necessary. In Kennedy’s speech he talked about how we have to seek the unknown and find out what we don’t know. Kennedy was talking about space, but what about the ocean? We really don’t know that much about it and I think we should learn more about the earth we live on.
President Kennedy has shown the commitment, justified the struggles, and now developed the need in every listener’s mind why America needs to be the first country to land a person on the moon. Looking back, he obviously succeeded. His speech was the major turning point in making the move happen, and rhetorical questions, allusions, and repetition all played an important role in making the speech so persuasive and inspiring.
When talking about the current space program, Neil Degrasse Tyson once said, “I got angry with America, because advancing is not just something you do incrementally. You need innovation as well, so that your advances are revolutionary, not merely evolutionary” (Tyson 3). America used to have the top space program in the world. Being first to the moon excited the country and gave everyone a sense of pride and fulfillment. Lately, though, we have been falling behind in space exploration. A successful space program is needed in America, and here’s why: we are losing our grip on the title as the world superpower and a new age of economics and politics is coming faster than we are prepared for. To be prepared for this new age we need the funds,
Neil Armstrong looked at it not only as a great triumph for America, but also for the human race when he said "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" on his first step on the moon (Dunbar). On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech about what he called "urgent national needs" at a stadium at Rice University in Houston, Texas (“NASA Moon Landing”). In that speech, he challenged America to "commit itself to landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the decade"(Schlager and Lauer). This became known as Kennedy's challenge and the idea was to outperform the Soviets. While the Soviets were off to a better start with the launch of Sputnik I, we soon rose to the challenge and accomplished our goal only eight years later on June 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin safely landed on the moon. With the great accomplishments of Apollo 11, America had bettered the Soviets and established superiority in space.
...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.