From the start of the Space Race, the Soviet Union had the United States beat by sending the first satellite, the Sputnik, and the first man, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, into space. However, President Kennedy would not stand by as the Soviet Union began to run away with the space race. Kennedy addressed the nation by consulting Congress to “increase NASA’s budget by nine billion dollars”(Cox). This bold move made by Kennedy enabled the United States to make it to the moon first. Going to the moon first was a much higher feat than simply going into space because it required much more “precision while launching and higher equipped technology to go the extra distance”(Exploring Space). Due to the extra skill required to go to the moon, it showed how by the end of the Space Race the United States had superior technology. Since the Cold War was a fight for Global Power, going to the moon was a significant move for the United States because it showed that they had exceptional machinery. With this admirable technology, it solidified the United States’s reputation as a Global
John F. Kennedy once said, "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space...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”. The main motive for this quote was to ensure that the United States wanted to beat out the Soviets in the space race. Ever since the Soviets tried to advance on the moon, the United States wanted to be the first successful nation to accomplish the first ever moon landing. At the time, the tension between the United States and the Soviets was very strong because the Cold War just ended and neither nation wanted to lose to each other in the space race. Just as the
The assassination of John F. Kennedy is one of the most devastating events in our nation’s history. John F. Kennedy, also known as JFK, became America’s 35th president when he was elected in 1960. Soon after being elected, Kennedy made it a goal to land a man on the moon. As promised, in 1969, Apollo 11 did just that. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were the astronauts that were sent into orbit and eventually landed on the moon (Dunbar). These two events helped shape our nation’s history, and were very important in characterizing that time period. There are several different theories on the death of John F. Kennedy and the landing of the moon.
During the 1960’s, President John F. Kennedy proposed a challenge that the United States could get a man on the moon within the decade. On July 17, 1969 NASA launched their Apollo 11 mission, piloted by Michael Collins. The goal was to get man onto the moon. It took the spacecraft 72 hours to enter lunar orbit. On July 20, man landed a spacecraft on the moon. 7 hours later Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the moon surface. As the now famous statement goes, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” said Armstrong. For the next few hours Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent their time collecting samples and performing tests. On July 21, they launched off the moon and started their trip back home. This
During the 1960’s America was in a global competition with the soviet union. After they gained the nuclear bomb we became frightened, they then shortly after made long range rocket capabilities which frightened us more, to respond we began a race to the moon. This advanced our rocket technology and many other aspects of society. There was so much funding and work involved we made huge scientific leaps as the US generally united under one goal. The collaboration and efficiency was astounding and is what solidified JFK’s place in history, they solved issues as large as how they would survive in space and how to handle oxygen and radiation. What people don’t know is that we landed a few times more after to do further research but in the end generally
Although The New Frontier was largely unsuccessful, Kennedy had an abundance of success in other areas of his presidency. One of Kennedy’s primary focuses was space exploration. During Eisenhower’s presidency, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, and then at the beginning of Kennedy’s presidency, the Soviet Union launched the first man to orbit the earth. Kennedy took space exploration on as a challenge and urged Americans to support him by funding the Apollo missions. Kennedy challenged Americans to commit themselves to landing a man on the moon before 1970. “In February 1962 the United States caught up with the Soviets by sending John Glenn into orbit” (107).
In the period of 1960, no one could imagine a man can travel to the moon. On 20 July 1969, Apollo 11 launched to the moon. The first step on the moon proved the United States’ technology capacity. Due to the Cold War there was a Space race between U.S. and Soviet Union. Both of these countries wanted to show their technology development. John F. Kennedy was the 35th president during that time. He wanted the United States to get ahead of the Soviet Union also to demonstrate the technology capacity of the United States. John F. Kennedy wanted to accomplish the goal within decades. On 12th September 1962, President Kennedy made a speech at Rice University about United States decided to go to the moon.
In October 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik and that started the race to the moon. The Russians were well ahead of Americans back in the 1960's in terms of the advanced technology they had. They were so close to taking off but then America decides to spontaneously land on the moon. President John F. Kennedy thought it was important that the United States win the race to the moon. On September 12, 1962, at Rice University, President Kennedy made a
In the beginning going to the moon was impossible, but America took on the challenge. "The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth" (Blake). This goal was imagined and was talked about way before 1961 but on May 25 we stated that we were going to the moon and now we had to go through with it. John F. Kennedy made sure of it too. He asked congress to support funds to this project. When it was launched it was broadcasted on television for millions to watch. It was the event of the century. The space ship was launched in the heat of Kennedy Space
President Kennedy came through with his promise in August as the first man walked on the moon. The president had said earlier that he wanted to have a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s, and with a threshold of almost two and a half years, his goal has been
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were the three people sent into space for the Apollo 11 space mission, the very first moon landing. With millions of people watching, a United States astronaut was televised, setting foot on the moon for the very first time. Some people thought that the moon landing was faked by the U.S.’s desire to beat the union in the Space Race. But facts made by these theories were mere speculation. The moon landing was the only hope for improvement for the future to others. Even through all the wreckage in the world, the Space Race, the Cold war, even the Vietnam war, we managed to get to the moon, which was
This Soviet Union achievement was a reveille for the United States and it spurred the creation of NASA and the space age. An article stated “NASA’s ancestor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics or NACA had focused mainly on developing experimental aircrafts that remained within the planet’s atmosphere” (NASA). In spite of Soviet achievement, NACA’s focus was shifted from aircraft to rockets. The space age was filled with momentous Soviet and American achievements. In 1961, the Soviets accomplished the first manned orbit around earth with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The following year NASA sent astronaut John Glenn in to space to become the first American to orbit the earth. The Soviets soon after preformed the first spacewalk in March of 1969. Three months later NASA’s project Gemini did the same thing. Not satisfied with their success NASA started working on project Apollo. On July 20, 1969, Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and NASA scientist achieved what is considered as one of the greatest accomplishment in the history of mankind, walking on the surface of the Moon. With that milestone, the United States essentially won the race for space
On May 25, 1961 President John F. Kennedy proposed that the United States accelerate the space program. In the text it states, “With the launch of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969, that goal became a reality.” The Apollo astronauts included Neil Armstrong, Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, and Michael
On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the act that allowed space exploration. This allowed America to be the very first people to be on the on the moon in the 1969 moon landing. Since then NASA has done so much they've given us satellites in the sky, discovered new planets, and even finding water on Mars. NASA has gathered so much knowledge for us and they’re still continuing they have so much more to explore.
Apollo 11 was a goal that was set by the president, John F. Kennedy, on May 25th, 1961. The goal was to travel through space, land on the moon and return back to Earth. The three astronauts to carry out this mission were Neil Armstrong (the commander), Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. (the lunar module pilot), and Michael Collins (command module pilot). About 530 million people were watching this event on live TV. Richard Nixon (the president at the time) watched from the white house.