John F. Kennedy

"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."— John F. Kennedy President John F. Kennedy’s speech at Rice University in 1962 made NASA’s fledgling Apollo program a national priority. In doing so, he paved the way for one of humankind’s greatest achievements: stepping onto the lunar surface in 1969. The speech had far-reaching consequences, not only for the space race but for space exploration for decades to come.