The United States was struggling to catch up with the Soviet Union in space technology and exploration. The Soviets had sent the first person to orbit space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961; shocking the United States. To rebuild the confidence in the American people, Kennedy proposed a challenge for America: send man on the moon before the decade ends, and do so before the Soviet Union does. He proposed this message in front of Congress on May 25, 1961: “...I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth...” He stated in one of his most famous speeches of his Presidential career, named the Shoot to The moon speech.
The race to put man on the moon before the decade ended had begun, and the person who had started the fire was President JFK. His confidence in the program fueled the heart of the American people to do better work in the Space Program. America’s space program had been put on a time limit for ten years by John Kennedy, pushing them forward in a rush. They also needed to surpass the Soviet Union, whom had been much more effective so far in space then America. John Kennedy also asked for 7 to 9 billion dollars for the Space Program for the years to come. Within a year of the speech, America had sent the Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom as the first two Americans in space. The space program continued on gathering data to help send man to the moon, doing more and more space missions to further along the program.
The race to put man on the moon before the decade ended had begun, and the person who had started the fire was President JFK. His confidence in the program fueled the heart of the American people to do better work in the Space Program. America’s space program had been put on a time limit for ten years by John Kennedy, pushing them forward in a rush. They also needed to surpass the Soviet Union, whom had been much more effective so far in space then America. John Kennedy also asked for 7 to 9 billion dollars for the Space Program for the years to come. Within a year of the speech, America had sent the Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom as the first two Americans in space. The space program continued on gathering data to help send man to the moon, doing more and more space missions to further along the program.