WITHIN THIS DECADE

[Music] when did the exploration of space begin at what time did nan first conceive the journey to the moon for thousands of years the astrologers the philosophers the writers of fiction have dreamed of such a journey a long impossible dream but soon the dream will come true in this sixth decade of the 20th century the first men will land and walk upon the surface of the Moon [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the journey to the moon is not an isolated event it is the result of a decade of research and discovery in space exploration at NASA research centers scientists engineers and technicians developed and tested new families of scientific satellites unmanned spacecraft which would extend man senses where he could not yet see or hear or touch spacecraft which took scientific equipment and experiments into the unknown darkness and sent back the light of new knowledge from these satellites man has learned the nature of microscopic particles in space his measured air density at great altitudes discovered how electrons deflect radio waves in the ionosphere and where radiation belts encircle our planet he has determined the true shape of the earth and mapped it more precisely made new measurements of solar energy and sent telescopes into the night for a first clear look at the Stars [Music] some were joint efforts to add to man's knowledge the combined scientific quest of other nations and the launched technology of our own [Music] the early scientific satellites carried only instruments into space later they would carry life plants and animals ranging from microorganisms to primates these bio satellites told us how weightlessness radiation velocity and pressure affected life in the new environment called space as man learned more about the earth and near space he sought to know about his neighbors in the solar system probes were hurled through interplanetary space to the neighborhood of Venus and Mars nearing Venus our spacecraft reported the atmosphere to be very dense the surface hot enough to melt lead these investigations told scientists that on Venus there is little likelihood of life as we know it [Applause] NASA also sent deep-space probes sailing across Uncharted Seas more than 360 million miles to look for a brief but wondrous moment at our nearest planetary neighbor Mars we learned that Mars is probably more like the moon than Earth pockmarked with craters with little or no magnetic field or gravity [Music] as important as the return of scientific information was the new confidence gained in our technological maturity but man could design and control such complex operations across millions of miles of interplanetary space [Music] over the past decade scientists also developed complex new instruments to probe the intimate secrets of the long mysterious moon television cameras took us live and close-up to the lunar surface our spacecraft landed softly in the lunar seas they examine the moon's color sampled its chemical composition [Music] man with mr. sunset on the surface of the Moon saw the Sun eclipsed by the earth and looked back at his own planet a quarter of a million miles away other spacecraft circled the moon photographing its yawning craters and soaring Peaks lapping more than 95% of its entire surface these studies prove that man could land and walk upon the lunar soil in this first decade of the Space Age the science and technology which was used to explore outer space was also applied to practical benefits here on earth down to earth satellites provide a constant watch on the world's weather service beacons for navigation by ship or plane send voice and picture from any point on earth to any other [Music] [Applause] [Music] in ten years we have come from a few experimental weather satellites to an operational system capable of night and day observations around the world today satellites take portraits of storms that span half a continent and transmit them to meteorologists in many nations they have detected hurricanes and typhoons and given valuable hours of warning for those who live and work in their pathways [Music] man has also learned to communicate by satellite first with a great balloon that served as a reflector in the sky for earthbound transmitters for most of the past decade it provided millions around the world with their first glimpse of a man-made star zooming across the sky [Music] other satellites followed that could perform increasingly complicated communication tasks today the technology proved out by these first families of satellites has been put to commercial use in an operational system which is available not only to television networks and businesses but to people everywhere all the world's been united to witness historic models communication satellites have provided a valuable bridge to scientists working at distant ports in the world but space research was not the only mission of NASA the first a in the name of this new organization stands for Aeronautics at airplane without wings the lifting body someday such a vehicle may be used to bring man back from space through the fiery re-entry of the Earth's atmosphere to a landing on the runway of tomorrow's airport in ten years the field of Aeronautics has kept pace with men's desire to fly ever higher faster and farther research has gone forward in jet noise sonic boom and aircraft safety hypersonic aircraft have been designed and built to fly to the dark edges of space [Music] but the journey to the edge of space was not far enough man needed bigger rockets with greater power the ability to cross the threshold of space for himself in the 1960s manned space travel became a reality many men here on earth help ready the systems which would take a few men across that frontier [Music] the astronauts star sailors on a formidable sea condition themselves to the new phenomena of space [Music] then came a day when the first man was ready astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to enter space [Music] - one application [Music] many astronauts would follow on longer voyages into space John Glenn first American to orbit the Earth the experience of each added more knowledge to the textbook for all of those who would come after the mail [Applause] okay from these first flights came important information about the men their spacecraft and the facilities and personnel who supported the matter men could withstand the force of gravity many times his own weight man could live for extended periods weightless in the vacuum of space [Music] [Applause] man could maneuver his own spacecraft in orbit make scientific measurements take photographs of the space around him and the earth below [Music] Roger I understand nothing and keeping it on it men could locate other spacecraft hundreds of miles across the ocean of space [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and could rendezvous and dock with spacecraft sent into orbit [Music] [Music] man could perform complex scientific and technological experiments in space [Music] man could walk and work outside his spacecraft [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] these first steps into space had taken man hundreds of miles above Earth yet he dreamed of more distant and demanding voyages expeditions which would require bigger rockets and more sophisticated spacecraft larger crews and longer time and so man began his preparations for the moon and the nation was ready to meet the challenge [Music] behind the spaceman have stood thousands of engineers scientists and technicians all part of the team dedicated to building and testing the many components which contributed to the dream America called upon its industry and its institutions place new demands and offered new challenges to the establishments of our time education contributed ideas and experiments scientific expertise and manpower industry solved thousands of insoluble problems found new methods and new materials when they were needed achieved new heights in quality control and rates of performance [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] sometimes there were failures and accidents that claimed men's lives [Applause] the astronaut pilot of this research vehicle landed safely but we corrected the faults and continued the work to be done Youth witnesses the culmination of a dream here in this building at the Kennedy Space Center the mighty Saturn 5 rocket is ready this is the vehicle which will thrust three Americans toward the moon in the greatest voyage of this century [Music] [Applause] [Music] the great adventure begins here at one mile per hour a giant slowly and ponderously inching its way toward the path carrying with it the plans and performances of multitudes of people [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a series of test flights with the Saturn 5 rocket was essential to man's landing on the moon 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 ignition sequence starts five four we have ignition [Music] [Music] the rehearsal began with Apollo 8 three days and 238,000 miles away from Earth the pioneers of Apollo 8 came face to face with a lunar landscape [Music] [Applause] and God these men were the first to orbit the mean to go where man had never gone before to see sights which man had never been his Christmas mat on earth but this was the time when both the earth and the moon were in the right places and this was the [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] three months later came the second manned mission in the Saturn five rocket the earth orbital flight of Apollo nine to test further the men and the new machine called the lunar module despite illness and anxious moments the mission was successful the command and lunar modules could separate across the vastness of space and could come safely together again [Applause] [Music] the next act in the prologue to lunar landing was Apollo 10 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] two of the astronauts entered the lunar module and took it down to within fifty thousand feet of the lunar surface the final and most critical tests were completed successfully [Music] [Applause] The Sea of Tranquility now awaits the arrival of the first men from Earth supercritical three men will make the journey astronauts Neil Armstrong Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins they will share some of the experiences of those who preceded them for launching Earth orbit rendezvous and docking lunar orbit separation of a command and lunar modules astronaut Collins will remain aboard the command module in lunar orbit astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin will land on the moon here on earth they rehearse the activities they will perform [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the men are ready the machines are ready now we know the dream will be achieved the challenge will be met in ten short years we have come a long way but man's journey into space has just begun 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 we make this judgment affirmatively it will be an entire nation [Music]