WITHIN THIS DECADE

[Music] [Music] when did the exploration of space begin at what time did man 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 [Music] Moon [Applause] [Music] what the journey to the Moon is not an isolated event it is the result of a decade of research and Discovery in space [Music] exploration at NASA research centers scientists engineers and technicians developed and tested new families of scientific satellites unmanned and spacecraft which would extend man's 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 he has 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 [Music] stars some were joint efforts to add add to man's knowledge the combined scientific quest of other nations and the launch technology of our [Music] own 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 [Music] 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 [Applause] It 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 marked with craters with little or no magnetic field or [Music] gravity as important as the return of scientific information was the new confidence gained in our technological maturity that man could design and control such complex operations across millions of miles of interplanetary space [Music] over the past decade scientists also develop complex new instruments to probe the Intimate Secrets of the long 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 downto Earth satellites provide a constant watch on the world's weather serve as beacons for navigation by ship or plane send voice and picture from [Applause] in 10 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 trans MIT them to meteorologists in Many Nations they have detected hurricanes and typhoons and given valuable hours of warning to those who live and work in their [Music] Pathways 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 [Music] sky 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 [Music] everywhere all the world has been United to witness historic [Music] moments communication satellites have provided a valuable bridge to scientists working at distant points in the [Music] world [Applause] [Music] but space research was not the only mission of NASA the first a in the name of this new organization stands for Aeronautics an 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 [Music] in 10 years the field of Aeronautics has kept pace with man's desire to fly ever higher faster and farther research has gone forward in jet noise sonic boom and aircraft safety hyper Sonic aircraft has been designed and built to fly to the dark edges of [Music] space 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 Mann space travel became a reality many men here on Earth help ready the systems which would take a few men across that [Music] Frontier the astronauts star Sailors on a formidable sea conditioned themselves for the new phenomena of space then came the day when the first man was ready astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to enter [Music] space 5 4 3 2 1 ignition okay on your way and C 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 [Applause] them operating underway Roger we're programming It Roll okay follow here stand by for 20 seconds Roger from these first flights came important information about the men their spacecraft and the facilities and Personnel who supported them man 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 below Houston is standing by Roger understand station keeping at 120 ft man could locate other spacecraft hundreds of miles across the ocean of space got a weird looking Mach here look right J alligator job open the L is fully extended [Music] Roger okay we have a rigid light okay Gemini 8 it looks good here from the ground we're sh con rigid everything looks good the doing was veryable at the time man could revu and dock with space craft send into orbit ahead of him very stable and no noticeable oscillations okay we're going to our switch Roger F we are [Music] down man could perform complex scientific and technological experiments in space man could walk and work outside his [Music] 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 times and so man began his preparations for the moon and the nation was ready to meet the challenge 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 placed 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 needed achieved New Heights in quality control and rates of [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] performance [Applause] sometimes there were failures and accidents that claimed men's [Applause] lives the astronaut pilot of This research vehicle landed safely but we corrected the faults and continue the work to be [Music] done youth Witnesses the culmination of a dream here in this building at the Kennedy Space Center the mighty Saturn 5 rocket is ready [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is the vehicle which will thrust three Americans toward the moon in the greatest Voyage of this [Music] [Music] century [Music] the Great Adventure begins here at 1 mph a giant slowly and ponderously inching its way toward the pth carrying with it the plans and performances of multitudes of [Music] people [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 5 4 we have ignition [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the rehearsal began with Apollo 8 3 days and 238,000 M away from Earth the pioneers of Apollo 8 came face to face with a lunar [Music] landscape in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light these men were the first to orbit the Moon to go where man had never gone before to see sights which man had never beheld the light day and the Darkness he called night and the evening and the morning were the first day and God said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters and God made the firmament and divided the water was Christmas back on Earth but this was the time when both the Earth and the moon were in the right places and this was the opportune moment and the evening and the morning was the second day and God said let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and God called the dry land Earth and the Gathering Together of the waters called the SE and God saw that it was good and from the crew of Apollo 8 we Clos with good night good luck a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you all of you on The Good [Music] Earth [Music] 3 months later came the second m mission in the Saturn 5 rocket the Earth orbital flight of Apollo 9 to test further the men and the new machine called the lunar [Music] 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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] again2 1618 22 [Music] [Applause] the Sea of Tranquility now awaits the arrival of the first men from Earth quty monitor desent desent monitor select switch to Super critical position super critical three men will make the journey astronauts Neil Armstrong Edwin Aldren and Michael Collins they will share some of the experiences of those who preceded them the launching Earth orbit rendevu and docking lunar orbit separation of the command and lunar modules astronaut Collins will remain aboard the Command Module in lunar orbit astronauts Armstrong and and Aldren will land on the moon here on Earth they have rehearsed the activities they will [Music] [Music] perform [Music] the men are ready the machines are ready now we know the dream will be achieved the challenge will be met in 10 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] for