背景
1961年1月，約翰·甘迺迪當選美國總統，當時由於蘇聯在將近4年前就成功發射了第一顆人造衛星斯普特尼克1號等原因，許多美國人認為在與蘇聯的太空競賽中美國正在失利。1961年4月12日，俄羅斯太空人尤利·加加林趕在美國水星計畫成功之前成為太空第一人使得這種觀念越發強烈。
因此，美國急需一種能展現空間技術實力的尖端成就。為此甘迺迪任命副總統Lyndon B. Johnson擔任國家航空航天委員會主席，以選擇他們的目標。他特別要求調查在“建造空間實驗室”“載人繞月飛行”和“載人登月”這些計畫中擊敗蘇聯的可能性，及它們的成本。詹森諮詢了美國國家航空航天局（NASA）的官員。NASA局長詹姆斯·韋伯給出的回答是：美國沒有機會趕在蘇聯之前建造空間站，是否能率先進行載人繞月飛行則很難說，因此載人登月是最好的選擇，這也是最昂貴的選擇。同時韋伯認為在1970年前實現這一目標需要耗費220億美元。詹森還諮詢了馮·布勞恩和行業三個巨頭：CBS的弗蘭克·斯坦頓，美國電力公司的唐納德·C·庫克和KBR的喬治·R·布朗的意見。
1961年5月25日，甘迺迪總統發表《關於國家緊急需求向國會的報告》提議“我相信現在到了這個國家兌現承諾的時刻，去完成這個目標：在這10年結束前，將人類送上月球，並安全返回地球。”而此時有58%的美國人反對這一計畫。
1962年甘迺迪發表該講話，旨在鼓勵美國人民支持阿波羅計畫。
中英對照
We Choose to Go to the Moon
我們決定登月
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
約翰·費茨傑拉德·甘迺迪
September 12, 1962
1962年9月12日
Rice Stadium
賴斯（大學的）體育場
President Pitzer, Mr.Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:
皮茨校長，副總統，州長，眾議員托馬斯，參議員維利，眾議員米勒，韋伯先生，比爾先生，科學家們，尊敬的來賓，女士們先生們：
I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.
我十分感激你們的校長授予我名譽客座教授的頭銜，並且我向各位保證我的第一個演講會十分簡潔。
I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.
我很高興來到這裡，特別是在這個時候來到這裡。
We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance.
我們在這個以知識聞名的大學，在這個以進步聞名的城市，在這個以實力聞名的州府相會。並且我們需要它們全部三者，因為我們正處於一個變化與挑戰的時刻，希望與恐懼交織的十年，知識與愚昧並存的時代。
The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.
我們獲取的知識越多，我們顯露出的無知也就越多。
Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole, despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.
儘管顯著的事實表明：享譽世界的科學家們仍在艱苦工作，儘管我國的科研力量以每12年翻一倍的速度增長、總體超過了人口增長速度的三倍。儘管如此，宇宙中未知之域、未解之謎和未竟之事的範圍之廣，仍然遠遠超出了我們所有人的理解能力。
No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man's recorded history in a time span of but a half-century.
沒人能夠斷言我們能走多遠，能走多快。但如果你願意，將5萬年的人類歷史濃縮為短短的半個世紀。
Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them.
在這個時間跨度下，我們對於開始的40年知之甚少，除了在最後階段我們學會了用獸皮遮體。
Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter.
接下來，在此標準之下，10年前，人類走出洞穴，開始建造新的家園。
Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels.
五年前人類才學會了寫字和使用有輪子的車輛。
Christianity began less than two years ago.
基督教產生於不到兩年前。
The printing press came this year, and then less than two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power.
印刷出版今年才出現。在人類歷史的50年間，在不到兩個月前，蒸汽機為我們提供了新的動力。
Newton explored the meaning of gravity.
牛頓發現了引力的意義。
Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available.
上個月，電燈，電話，汽車和飛機成為了現實。
Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.
僅僅上周我們才發明了盤尼西林（即青黴素，譯者注），電視與核能。如果現在美國最新的飛船能夠成功抵達金星，那么我們才真正算得上在今天午夜抵達其他星球了。
This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers.
這是激動人心的一步，但邁出的這一步在驅散舊邪惡的同時，也會派生出新邪惡，新無知、新問題和新危險。
Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.
太空所展現的遠景固然會得到巨大的回報，但同時也會伴隨著巨大的困難與高昂的代價。
So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait.
所以並不意外，有時我們會在裹足不前，焦急等待。
But this city of Houston, this state of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them.
但休斯敦市，德克薩斯州與美利堅合眾國不是由那些止步不前，安於現狀，甘願落後的人建立的。
This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space.
這個國家是由那些不斷前進的人所征服的，太空也是如此。
William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.
威廉·布拉德福德，曾在1630年的普利茅斯港殖民地的建立儀式上說，所有偉大而光榮的行動都伴隨著巨大的困難，而完成這些行動必須具備不斷進取的精神和與之相當的勇氣。
If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred.
如果說這段簡短而充滿進步的歷史能給我們什麼樣的教訓，那就是，人類在探求知識和進步的過程中是堅定不移，並無可阻擋的。
The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space.
無論我們參加與否，太空探索終將繼續。無論何時它都是一場偉大的冒險，沒有任何一個期望領先世界的國家想在這場太空競賽中止步。
Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space.
我們的先輩使這個國家掀起了工業革命的第一波浪潮，掀起了現代發明的第一波浪潮，掀起了核能技術的第一波浪潮。而我們這一代絕不會甘願在即將到來的太空時代的浪潮中倒下。
We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it.
我們要加入其中――我們要領先世界。
For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace.
為了如今仰望太空，注視月球和遙看繁星的人們，我們發誓，我們決不允許太空被那些敵對國家（原文為旗幟，譯者注）所征服，我們會看到自由與和平的旗幟在飄揚。
We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.
我們發誓我們不會看到太空遍布大規模殺傷性武器，而是充滿了獲取知識的工具。
Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first.
這個承諾只有在我國領先的情況下才能履行。因此，我們即將付諸行動。
In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.
簡而言之，我們在科學和工業上的領導地位，我們對於和平與安全的渴望，我們對於自身和他人的責任，它們要求我們做出努力，為了全人類的利益而努力解開這些謎團，成為世界領先的航天國家。
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.
為了獲取新知識，贏得新權利，我們在這全新的領域內揚帆起航。我們必須獲取並運用權利。為了全人類的進步，我們踏上新的航程。
For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own.
空間科學，正如核科學以及其他一切科技，本身並無道德可言。
Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war.
它的善惡完全取決於人類。並且只有當美利堅合眾國獲得一個卓越的地位之時，才能幫助決定這片新的領域最終成為和平的海洋還是變成另一個恐怖的戰爭悲劇。
I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.
我不認為我們應該或者必須對敵人濫用太空比對敵人濫用陸地和海洋更加無動於衷。但是我確實要說，太空能夠避免在被戰火吞噬的情況下，在不重蹈戰爭覆轍的情況下開發和利用。
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet.
在太空還沒有競爭，偏見和國家衝突。
Its hazards are hostile to us all.
我們所有人都要面對太空的危險。
Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.
太空值得全人類盡最大的力量征服，而且和平合作的機會可能永遠不會重來。
But why, some say, the moon?
但有人問，為什麼選擇登月？
Why choose this as our goal?
為什麼選擇登月作為我們的目標？
And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain?
那他們也許會問為什麼我們要登上最高的山峰？
Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?
為什麼，要在35年前，飛越大西洋？
Why does Rice play Texas?
為什麼賴斯大學要與德克薩斯大學競賽？
We choose to go to the moon.
我們決定登月。
We choose to go to the moon.
我們決定登月。
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.
我們決定在這十年間登上月球並實現更多夢想，並非它們輕而易舉，而正是因為它們困難重重。因為這個目標將促進我們實現最佳的組織並測試我們頂尖的技術和力量，因為這個挑戰我們樂於接受，因為這個挑戰我們不願推遲，因為這個挑戰我們志在必得，其他的挑戰也是如此。
It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.
正是因為這些理由，我決定將去年關於提升航天計畫的決定作為我在本屆總統任期內最重要的決定之一。
In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history.
在過去的24小時裡我們看到一些設施已經為人類歷史上最偉大而複雜的探險而建立起來。
We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor.
我們感受到了土星C-1火箭試驗產生的震動和衝擊，它比把約翰·格倫送入太空的擎天神火箭還要強大好幾倍，可以產生相當於1萬輛汽車的功率。
We have seen the site where five F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48-storey structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.
我們看到了5個F-1火箭引擎，每一個都相當於8個土星火箭引擎的功率，它們將會用於建造更先進的土星火箭，在卡納維拉爾角即將興建的48層大樓中組裝起來。這幢建築寬一個街區，長度超過我們現在所在的這個體育場的兩倍。
Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were made in the United States of America and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.
在過去的19個月裡至少有45顆衛星進入地球軌道，其中大約40顆標著“美利堅合眾國製造”的標記，它們比蘇聯的衛星更加精密，能為世界人民提供更多的知識。
The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science.
正在飛向金星的水手號飛船是空間科學史上最複雜的裝置。
The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the 40-yard lines.
其精確程度比得上在卡納維拉爾角發射的一枚飛彈直接擊中這個體育場的40碼線之間。
Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course.
海事衛星將使海上的船隻航行更加安全。
Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs.
氣象衛星可以提前帶給我們颶風與風暴預警，它同樣也可以用於森林火災與冰山預警。
We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them.
我們經歷過失敗，但是別人也經歷過，即便他們不會承認。
And they may be less public.
因此它們可能並不為人所知。
To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight.
顯然，我們正落後於人，並且在載人航天方面還將繼續落後一段時間。
But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.
但是我們絕不會處於下風，在這十年間，我們將會迎頭趕上。
The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school.
我們在科學和教育獲得的進展將豐富我們關於宇宙與環境的新知識，新經驗，繪圖與觀測技術，用於工業，醫學和家庭的新工具和計算機，所有的一切都將促進科學和教育的發展。
Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.
像賴斯大學這樣的技術院校將會因此受益。
And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs.
最終，儘管航天事業本身仍然處於童年，它已經催生了許多公司和數以千計的新興工作。
Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this state, and this region, will share greatly in this growth.
航天與其他相關工業對投資和特殊技術人員產生了新的需求。並且這個城市，這個州和這個地區將會極大地受益於這種增長。
What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space.
西部的舊邊界將會成為空間科學的新邊界。
Houston, your city of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community.
休斯敦，你們的休斯敦市，以及它的載人航天中心，將會成為一個巨大的科學與工程共同體的命脈。
During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this center in this city.
接下來5年，國家航空航天局希望這裡的科學家和工程師數量翻倍，希望將工資和開支提高到每年6千萬美元，希望在工廠和實驗設施上得到2億美元的投資，希望指導或與這個城市的航天中心簽訂超過10億美元的契約。
To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money.
顯而易見，這些會花掉我們一大筆錢。
This year's space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined.
今年的航天預算是1961年元月的三倍，比過去八年的總和還要多。
That budget now stands at $5,400 million a year--a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year.
預算現在保持在每年54億美元――一個令人震驚的數目，儘管還稍小於我們在香菸和雪茄上所消耗的年消費額。
Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United States, for we have given this program a high national priority--even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us.
航天支出很快就會從全國人均每周40美分上升到每周50美分，因為我們賦予了這個計畫極高的國家優先權――即使我認識到，目前這個目標從某種程度上來說還停留在信念與夢想中，因為我們無從知曉人們將會從中獲得怎樣的收益。
But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost as hot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out--then we must be bold.
但是我想說，我的同胞們。讓我們向那個距離休斯敦控制中心遠隔24萬英里的月球發射一枚超過 300 英尺高，與這個橄欖球場長度相當的火箭。這枚火箭採用了新型合金材料，其耐熱性與抗壓性比現在使用的材料強好幾倍，只是個別部分還是未知數。其裝配的精密程度堪比最精確的手錶。它運載著用於推進，導航，控制，通訊，食品和維生的各種設備，肩負著前所未有的使命，登上那個未知的天體，之後安全返回地球。以超過2萬5千英里的時速重返大氣層，由此產生的高溫大約是太陽溫度的一半，像此時此地一樣熱――如果我們要在這10年間，正確地實現這些目標――那我們必須敢做敢為。
I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute.
我一個人做了所有這些工作，所以我們想讓你們冷靜一會。
However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid.
然而，我認為我們正在付諸實踐，我們必須為所必為。
I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job.
我並不覺得我們應該浪費錢，但我認為我們應該付諸實踐。
And this will be done in the decade of the Sixties.
這些應該在60年代實現。
It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university.
它有可能在你們還在中學，這所學院或大學時實現。
It will be done during the terms of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform.
它將會在台上諸位的任期之內實現。
But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.
它必將完成，並且應當在這十年結束之前完成。
And I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.
我很高興這所大學能夠作為載人登月工程的一部分，能夠作為美利堅合眾國國家事業的一部分。
Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."
很多年前，偉大的英國探險家喬治·馬拉里在攀登珠穆朗瑪峰時遇難。曾經有人問他為什麼要攀登珠峰，他回答說，“因為它就在那兒。”
Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there.
好的，太空就在那兒，而我們將投入探索。月球和其他星球就在那兒，獲得知識與和平的新希望就在那兒。
And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.
因此，在我們啟程之時，我們祈求上帝能夠保佑這個人類有史以來所從事的最具風險，危險與最偉大的歷險。
Thank you.
謝謝。
英文原版
President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:
I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.
I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.
We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.
Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole, despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.
No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50 thousand years of man's recorded history in a time span of but a half-century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than two years ago. The printing press came this year, and then less than two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.
This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.
So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this state of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward—and so will space.
William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.
If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space.
Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it—we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.
Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.
演講現場There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
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 we intend to win, and the others, too.
It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.
In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10 thousand automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. We have seen the site where five F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.
Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were made in the United States of America and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.
The Mariner spacecraft... (interrupted by applause) the Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the 40-yard lines.
Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs.
We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.
To be sure,... (interrupted by applause) to be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.
The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.
And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this state, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, (interrupted by applause) your city of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to 60 million dollars a year; to invest some 200 million dollars in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over 1 billion dollars from this center in this city.
To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year's space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at 5 billion 400 million dollars a year—a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United States, for we have given this program a high national priority—even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us. But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240 thousand miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25 thousand miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun—almost as hot as it is here today—and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out—then we must be bold.
I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute.
However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the decade of the Sixties. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the terms of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.
And I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.
Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."
Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.
Thank you.
