John F. Kennedy Space Effort Speech at Rice University records

President John F. Kennedy visited Rice University campus on September 12, 1962, and delivered a speech in the stadium on the Nation's Space Effort. Kennedy cites scientific progress as evidence that exploration of space is inevitable and argues that the United States should lead the space effort in order to retain a position of leadership on earth. He stated that we explore space not because it is easy but because it is difficult, and that the U.S. should "do it right and do it first before this decade is out," inspiring and engaging the nation in the space race.

Although Kennedy was assassinated the following year, on November 22, 1963, his dream of winning the space race was fulfilled on July 20, 1969, when NASA's Apollo XI mission successfully landed the first men on the moon. As astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off the Lunar Module, he proclaimed "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." His fellow astronaut Edwin Aldrin Jr. also walked on the moon's surface and the two men gathered 47 pounds of lunar surface material for research purposes.