What was that goal of the space race?
The famous speech included A. Whether that was the “goal” of the space race… The race was not an organized competition. It was more like two kids trying to outdo each other. The Soviets were the first to put a satellite around Earth. The Soviets were the first to put a man in orbit. The Soviets were also the first to put a woman in orbit. The Soviets were the first to photograph the far side of the Moon… well, you can guess the trend that was developing. By the time the USA were catching up, the Soviets were preparing to go to the Moon. The Soviets were the first to land softly on the Moon (unmanned probe) in 1966. The first manned lunar orbit was planned for 1967 (50th anniversary of the Revolution). Alas, the director of the Soviet Moon program (Korolyov) died in 1966. After that, the program continued but nothing worked right. The Soviets did continue to try, even after the USA succeeded in July 1968. But the Zond probes kept failing, some not even making it to Earth orbit. So,
A. However, in the famous Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort, he doesn’t mention this exactly: “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.” He also doesn’t say much about “the other things”. A very stirring speech for one that says so little. In particular, he never said why we wanted to do it. But here’s why. The Soviets had bigger rockets than we did. Well, their nukes were much bigger and heavier than ours, so they needed big rockets. We couldn’t beat them in building an orbiting space station – which was the next logical step. But we could beat them in a longer term goal – because we had essentially infinite resources to throw at the problem. The rea
The space race was all about politics. In which the USA wanted to thumb their nose at the communists for having put the first satellite in space – Sputnik and for putting the first man into space. The US response has always been a knee jerk reaction afterwards. When it came to putting a USA man into space, it was on top of a modified missile and in a tin can (so to speak). Of course in your list, it would be A. For what JFK wanted – that to symbolicly put the first man on the Moon, would suppasse the Soviets previous achievements. What is even more startling – is why didn’t the Soviets put even one man on the Moon? And only used remote controlled lunar landers instead? There was an interesting documentary (I’m sorry I can’t remember the title nor the details – as it was some years ago I viewed it) which looked into a new type of rocket design – that this was a very efficient design. I believe it was a soviet design – that even NASA took an interest in. I think it is good to see various
Well, while the most accurate answer is, of course, A, there are some issues to take with a part of your question, and of two of the better answers to this point. On your question, there was no element of “once and for all”. Thats not the way that politics works, or can work. One can lose one race, and win the next one. Wins are always about the immediate now. So, Kennedy’s speech to the US Congress on May 25, 1961, in which he declared the goal of getting a man to the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth, before the decade (60s) was out, was a reaction to 1) The USSR placing the first human into space and orbit, on April 12, 1961, and 2) to the effects of the Bay of Pigs fiasco earlier in May. Both events placed the new Kennedy Administration in a position where they needed an international statement of resolve, and it needed to be in a field related to those events. Ergo, Project Apollo. Next, Raymond states: “By the time the USA were catching up, the Soviets were preparing to
