May 25, 1961

President John F. Kennedy stated that the United States would be the first to put a man on the moon saying, “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,” in a special address to Congress on May 25, 1961. Later, in a speech at Rice University, he said: “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.” Kennedy’s goal was achieved when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon’s surface.