July 20, 2009
From history:
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 -- if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.
— John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man....
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, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
— John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962
Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.
— Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, July 20, 1969
That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.
— Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, July 20, 1969
