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Hour Two: To the Moon
Forty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy made a speech to Congress -- a "Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs." In that speech, he asked for support for a number of initiatives, including worker training programs and the modernization of military equipment. But the item in that speech that set its place in history was a challenge to the world and to the U.S. itself -- Kennedy's famous challenge to set a man on the moon before the end of the decade. "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," said Kennedy, asking for a vast mobilization of funds, people, and skills towards the effort. "It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent, wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel. New objectives and new money cannot solve these problems. They could in fact, aggravate them further--unless every scientist, every engineer, every serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant gives his personal pledge that this nation will move forward, with the full speed of freedom, in the exciting adventure of space," Kennedy proclaimed. As we know, the project succeeded. In this hour, we'll look back at how that happened. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255, and share your opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required)
Guests: Art Greene John Logsdon
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Host/Executive Producer/Editor of Science Friday: Ira Flatow Senior Producer of Science Friday: Karin Vergoth Executive web producer: Ira Flatow Web producer: Charles Bergquist
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