American Moonshot
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“We shall be first”: Quoted in Ward, Dr. Space, p. 132.
the two Mercury astronauts: Jay Barbree, “Live from Cape Canaveral”: Covering the Space Race, From Sputnik to Today (New York: Smithsonian/Collins, 2007), p. 98.
17: “WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON”: RICE UNIVERSITY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1962
“I do not know whether”: John F. Kennedy, quoted in Houston Press, September 12, 1962 (Rice University Special Collections).
“Some from Texas might disagree”: Quoted in John Lewis Gaddis, On Grand Strategy (New York: Penguin Press, 2018), pp. 311–12.
“The people here realize”: “Kennedy’s Visit,” Houston Chronicle, September 12, 1962, sec. 1, p. 20.
“May God continue to guard”: Forrest Fischer, “Kennedy Puts U.S. in Orbit . . . Hails Heat of Space Effort,” Houston Press, September 12, 1962.
“Sixty firms have moved”: “JFK and NASA,” p. 10.
“everyone perspired” in the “roaster”: Marie Dauplaise, “Dignitaries Sat Close to JFK—But Never Heard a Word,” Houston Press, September 12, 1962, p. 2.
Pitzer committed the university: Jessica P. Cannon, “Owls in Space: Rice University’s Connections to NASA Johnson Space Center,” Houston in History 6, no. 1 (1963): 33.
“educational pilot plant”: “JFK and NASA,” p. 10.
“I can remember it clearly today”: Eric Berger, “JFK’s Speech Today Would Be Hard to Believe,” Houston Chronicle, September 12, 2012.
“We meet at a college noted for knowledge”: Kennedy, “Address at Rice University in Houston on the Nation’s Space Effort,” https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/040/JFKPOF-040-001.
“Surely the opening vistas”: Ibid.
“The exploration of space”: Ibid.
“politically uncommon fiscal candor”: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Space Chronicles (New York: W. W. Norton, 2002), pp. 1–5.
“This year’s space budget”: Kennedy, “Address at Rice University in Houston on the Nation’s Space Effort.”
“We choose to go to the moon”: Ibid.
“British explorer George Mallory”: “Address at Rice University, Houston, Texas, 12 September 1962,” p. 3, Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, President’s Office Files, Speech Files, Kennedy Library.
the stadium erupted in applause: “46 Keel Over from Heat During President’s Speech,” Houston Chronicle, September 12, 1962, sec. 1, p. 2.
“I remember the times”: Mark Carreau, “The Quest Begins: At Rice, President Kennedy Inspired a Nation to Look at the Stars,” Houston Chronicle, October 10, 2002, p. 46.
“Now you guys do the details!”: Ted Sorensen told this story on Focus on Youth, a syndicated radio show hosted by Sandy Kenyon of ABC News. Thanks to documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy—daughter of RFK and close friend—for bringing this to my attention.
“I certainly remember it”: Douglas Brinkley, interview with Neil Armstrong, September 19, 2001, in Clear Lake City, Texas.
“encapsulates all of recorded history”: Jade Boyd, “JFK’s 1962 Moon Speech Still Appeals 50 Years Later,” Rice University News & Media, August 30, 2008, http://news.rice.edu/2012/08/30/jfks-1962-moon-speech-still-appeals-50-years-later/.
“blew me away” . . . “I came away”: Ibid.
The astronauts escorted the president: Cannon, “Owls in Space,” p. 33.
within the decade: Warren Burkett, “Kennedy Pleased with Houston Space Briefing,” Houston Chronicle, September 13, 1962.
“To talk of placing”: John F. Kennedy, “Remarks at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston,” September 12, 1962, Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-nasa-manned-spacecraft-center-houston.
“By all means, we must carry on”: Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Are We Headed in the Wrong Direction,” Saturday Evening Post, August 11, 1962, p. 24.
Kennedy needed Eisenhower’s . . . support: E. W. Kenworthy, “Eisenhower Tells Kennedy of Tour,” New York Times, September 11, 1962, p. 1.
“Every citizen of this country”: Tom Yarborough, “Kennedy Visit,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 13, 1962, p. 5.
contractor on the Apollo lunar module: Richard Thruelsen, The Grumman Story (New York: Praeger, 1976).
“By forceful implication”: Alvin Spivak, “Pledge to Beat Russia to Moon,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 13, 1962, p. 1.
“all of us are so committed to the sea”: John F. Kennedy, “Remarks on Australian Ambassador’s Dinner for America’s Cup Race,” Newport, Rhode Island, September 14, 1962, item JFKPOF-040-005, Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, President’s Office Files, Speech Files, Kennedy Library.
“If at any time the Communist build-up”: Press Conference, September 13, 1962, item JFKPOF-057-012, Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, President’s Office Files, Kennedy Library.
18: GEMINI NINE AND WALLY SCHIRRA
Gemini’s launch schedule: Project Gemini: A Chronology, Part 1 (B), “Concept and Design,” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4002/p1b.htm.
“NASA was not looking for”: Colin Burgess, Moon Bound: Choosing and Preparing NASA’s Lunar Astronauts (New York: Springer Praxis Books, 2013), p. 54.
included six civilians: “2d Generation of Spacemen Make World Debut in Houston,” Houston Chronicle, September 17, 1962, p. 1.
about two years younger: “Space Voyagers Rarin’ to Orbit,” Life, April 20, 1959, p. 22.
“born under the second law”: Neil Armstrong, “The Engineered Century,” March 1, 2000, National Academy of Engineering, www.nae.edu/publications/bridge/thevertiginousmarchoftechnology/theengineeredcentury.aspx.
Slayton instructed Armstrong to report to Houston: Hansen, First Man, p. 202.
“In the opinion of individuals”: Ibid., pp. 207–8.
The Gemini Nine were the lucky test pilots: Grissom quoted in French and Burgess, In the Shadow of the Moon, p. 2.
from $530 million to $745 million: Eugene Reichl, Project Gemini (Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2013), p. 18.
“Many women are employed”: O. B. Lloyd Jr. to Susan Marie Scott, June 18, 1962, University of Houston—Clear Lake, NASA Archive Collection, No. 2018-0001, Records of NASA Johnson Space Center, Library and Archives of the University of Houston, Clear Lake, Clear Lake City, Texas.
“NASA did not state gender”: French and Burgess, Into That Silent Sea, p. 202.
They graduated with flying colors: Dianna Wray, “The Real Story of NASA’s First Female Astronauts,” Miami New Times, September 19, 2017, www.miaminewtimes.com/content/printView/9681122. See also Margaret Weitekamp, Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: America’s First Women in Space Program (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004).
Some of the choice headlines: Roger Launius to Douglas Brinkley, November 5, 2018.
“I think this gets back to the way”: Quoted in Martha Ackmann, The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight (New York: Random House, 2004), p. 168.
$5,147, to $3,283: Andrew Cohen, Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2014), p. 62.
The idea of an African American: Roger D. Launius, The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration: From the Ancient World to the Extraterrestrial Future (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2018), p. 142.
“My rambunctious approach”: Quoted in French and Burgess, Into That Silent Sea, p. 232.
“Not a fancy name”: Ibid.
“In mission control, I winked”: Kraft, Flight, p. 178.
“The President was always extremely interested”: Richard Witkin, “Schirra Orbits Earth Six Times, Landing Near Carrier in Pacific After Almost Flawless Flight,” New York Times, October 4, 1962, p. 24.
“I ate and I wasn’t hungry”: “‘Astronauts Will Eat, Sleep by Numbers’—Schirra,” Houston Chronicle, October 8, 1962, clipping, Fondrun Li
brary, Rice University.
“would have turned a robot green”: Shepard and Slayton, with Barbree, Moon Shot, p. 157.
still paled in comparison: Witkin, “Schirra Orbits Earth Six Times,” p. 1.
At a press conference: Transcript of Press Conference for Walter Schirra, Rice University, October 8, 1962, Fondrum Library, NASA Archives, Rice University, Houston.
At 9:25 a.m.: Ernest May and Philip R. Zelikow, eds., The Kennedy Tapes (New York: William Morrow, 2002), p. 31.
“I know who you are”: Jerry T. Baulch, “It’s Back to Work Now,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 17, 1962, p. 2.
“Why would the Soviets”: May and Zelikow, The Kennedy Tapes, p. 49.
hundred-dollar-a-seat fund-raiser: George Tagge, “Kennedy Plugs for Yates,” Chicago Tribune, October 20, 1962, p. 1.
“the space program was understandably preoccupied”: Krantz, Failure Is Not an Option, p. 94.
“how much bad advice”: Sheldon M. Stern, The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005), p. 217.
put the problem succinctly: “Space Goals Put Strain on Budget,” New York Times, November 5, 1962, pp. 1, 6.
“keep me thinking of the taxpayers’ money”: “Reaching for the Moon,” Time, August 10, 1962, p. 54.
“one which we intend to win”: “Address at Rice University, Houston, Texas, 12 September 1962,” p. 3.
“programs for scientific investigations in space”: W. D. Kay, Defining NASA: The Historical Debate over the Agency’s Mission (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2012), p. 82.
“No, sir, I do not”: “Transcript of Presidential Meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House: Supplemental Appropriations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), November 21, 1962,” tape 63, Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, President’s Office Files, Presidential Recordings collections, Kennedy Library.
“The people that are going to furnish”: Ibid.
“I would certainly not favor”: Ibid.
“We ought to get it”: Ibid.
“In Berlin you spent”: Ibid.
19: STATE OF SPACE EXPLORATION
“an extraordinary technical accomplishment”: “Remarks on Presentation of Mariner II Model,” January 17, 1963, JFKPOF042-024-p0001, Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, President’s Office Files, Speech Files, Kennedy Library.
The overall earmark: Michio Kaku, The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth (New York: Doubleday, 2018), p. 30.
New Frontier budget as “austere”: Howard Simons, “Increase of $2 Billion Asked in Space Funds,” Washington Post, January 18, 1963, p. A12.
“maintain a position of world leadership”: The Budget Message of the President, January 1963, p. 18, item JFKPOF-071-006, Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, President’s Office Files, Legislative Files, Kennedy Library.
“Efforts are being concentrated”: Ibid., p. 19.
Former president Eisenhower: Mieczkowski, Eisenhower’s Sputnik Moment, p. 268.
He even went so far: Arthur Krock, “Mr. Kennedy’s Management of the News,” Fortune, March 1963, pp. 198–202.
“We have had limited success”: Associated Press, “News Tinted by Kennedy Says Krock,” Des Moines Register, February 24, 1963, p. 5. See also Krock, “Mr. Kennedy’s Management of the News,” p. 82.
“The official [White House] release of information”: Arthur Krock, “Mr. Kennedy’s Management of the News,” Fortune, March 1963.
“The eyes of all ages”: Arthur C. Clarke, “Space Flight and the Spirit of Man,” Reader’s Digest, February 1962.
“a race of education and research”: Hal Willard, “Kennedy Calls for Federal School Aid,” Washington Post, October 11, 1957, p. 1.
confident that advanced computer technology: Leslie Berlin, Troublemakers: Silicon Valley’s Coming of Age (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2017), p. 11.
“Remember when NASA”: Ibid., p. 23.
conduct a thorough review: John F. Kennedy to Lyndon B. Johnson, April 9, 1963, and Lyndon B. Johnson to John F. Kennedy, May 13, 1963, John F. Kennedy Presidential Files, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
BENEFITS TO NATIONAL ECONOMY: Lyndon B. Johnson to the President, May 13, 1963, with attached report, John F. Kennedy Presidential Files, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
“That’s just wonderful”: Quoted in Ward, Dr. Space, p. 132.
from his White House bedroom: “President Watches,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 1963, p. 3.
“I had to initiate retrofire”: L. Gordon Cooper Jr., “Astronaut’s Summary Flight Report,” in Walter C. Williams, Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, William M. Bland Jr., and James E. Bost, eds., Mercury Project Summary, NASA Publication SP-45 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1963), p. 356, https://history.nasa.gov/SP-45/contents.htm.
“I know that a good many people”: John F. Kennedy, “Remarks Upon Presenting the NASA Distinguished Service Medal to Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper,” May 21, 1963, at John Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKWHF/WHN15/JFKWHF-WHN15/JFKWHF-WHN15.
“One of the things which warmed us”: Ibid.
“Help us in our future space endeavors”: Carroll Kilpatrick, “250,000 Give Cooper Hero’s Welcome,” Washington Post, May 22, 1963, p. 1.
once back in Houston: Carpenter and Stoever, For Spacious Skies, pp. 310–11.
“other aspects of human needs”: “Critics Urge Slowdown in U.S. Moon Program,” Asbury Park (NJ) Press, July 1, 1963, p. 6.
“To allow the Soviet Union”: Ibid.
“the United States space program is receiving”: Howard Simons, “Space Program Being Scrutinized by Budget-Minded Congress,” Washington Post, July 1, 1963, p. A2.
Webb warned that cuts: Roulhac Hamilton, “House Group Cuts NASA Drastically,” Orlando Sentinel, July 10, 1963, p. 2.
“will lead a great America”: No. 3 Cong. Rec. H13906 (August 1, 1963) (statement of Rep. Fulton).
“We cannot say definitely”: “The Soviet Space Program,” Central Intelligence Agency, National Intelligence Estimate 11-1-62, December 5, 1962, p. 6.
“in a state of perfect inertia”: Max Frankel, “Test-Ban Hopes Linger,” New York Times, May 19, 1963, p. E4.
“it would provide insurance”: Paul B. Stares, The Militarization of Space (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985), p. 88.
“examine our attitude toward peace itself”: John F. Kennedy, “Commencement Address at American University in Washington: June 10, 1963,” at Woolley and Peters, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/commencement-address-american-university-washington.
“the best speech by any president since Roosevelt”: Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, p. 602.
“freedom is indivisible”: “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, “Remarks of President John F. Kennedy at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, June 26, 1963,” Kennedy Library, https://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/JFK-Speeches/Berlin-W-Germany-Rudolph-Wilde-Platz_19630626.aspx.
20: “THE SPACE EFFORT MUST GO ON”
At the Marshall Space Flight Center: Richard Witkin, “Kennedy Pushes Project Apollo,” New York Times, July 8, 1962.
“the antithesis of fiscal soundness”: Dwight D. Eisenhower to Charles Halleck, May 26, 1963, White House Presidents, NASA History Office, Washington, DC.
no “substantial military value”: Bizony, The Man Who Ran the Moon, pp. 101–2.
“The man-in-space program”: Richard Witkin, “Lunar Program in Crisis,” New York Times, July 11, 1963.
When a top-tier NASA engineer: “Lift-Off! The U.S. Space Program,” Kennedy Library, https://www.jfklibrary.org/Exhibits/Permanent-Exhibits/Lift-off-The-US-Space-Program.aspx.
“The po
int of the matter”: “News Conference 58,” July 17, 1963, Papers of John F. Kennedy, Presidential Papers, President’s Office Files, Kennedy Library.
“He told me many times”: Interview with Sergei N. Khrushchev, Red Files, PBS, www.pbs.org/redfiles/moon/deep/interv/m_int_sergei_khrushchev.htm.
“interested in an international program”: Howard Simons, “JFK Probed Kremlin on Joint Moon Trip,” Washington Post, September 22, 1963, p. A1.
“The bombers were stopped”: Hugh Sidey quoted in Andrew Cohen, Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2014), pp. 22–23.
“It is rarely possible”: John F. Kennedy, “Special Message to the Senate on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” August 8, 1963, Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-senate-the-nuclear-test-ban-treaty.
At a White House meeting: Steven Levingston, Kennedy and King: The President, the Pastor, and the Battle over Civil Rights (New York: Hachette Books, 2017), p. 426.
“a ray of light appears”: Carroll Kilpatrick, “Kennedy’s Aides, 6 Other Scientists Join in Endorsing Test-Ban Treaty,” New York Times, August 25, 1963, p. A1.
“We’ll have worked to fly by”: John F. Kennedy, meeting with James Webb (audiotape), September 18, 1963, Kennedy Tapes, Kennedy Library. See also Ted Widmer, Listening In: The Secret White House Recording of John F. Kennedy (New York: Hyperion, 2012).
“this can be an asset”: Carolyn Y. Johnson, “JFK Had Doubts About Moon Landing,” Boston Globe, May 25, 2011.
“if we cooperate”: John Noble Wilford, “Race to Space, Through the Lens of Time,” New York Times, May 24, 2011, p. D1.
short- and medium-range missiles: “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,” January 27, 1967, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, U.S. State Department, www.state.gov/t/isn/5181.htm.
“In a field where”: John F. Kennedy, “Address Before the 18th General Assembly of the United Nations,” September 20, 1963, at John Woolley and Gerhard Peters, Kennedy Library, https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/united-nations-19630920.