We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share... I believe that 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 the earth. No single space project in this period 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... But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon--... it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.
President Kennedy's Message to Congress May, 1961
On July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon. The moon! A man walks on the moon! It was a time when we could still be surprised. A time when we could still be unified as a country, as a planet as human beings, in awe. Over time moon shots and space exploration became "common" occurrences and we didn't look skyward in amazement as much. Forty years later,however, the lessons of walking on the moon are as relevant as they were in the Cold War and amidst the turmoil of Vietnam, race riots and a nation passing the torch to a new generation with new vision. A nation that believes can achieve. We are there again. We are a nation in need of a moon shot. On July 20, 1969 a man walked on the moon. On July 20, 2009 we can look to that moon as it looks down on us and be reminded that we can be surprised, that we can be moved and that we can achieve.
“We choose to go to the moon. 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 . . . ”
--President John F. Kennedy, address at Rice University, September 12, 1962
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