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and now ladies and gentlemen the
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President of the United States
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[Applause]
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president Pizza mr. vice president
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governor congressman Thomas senator
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Wiley and congressman Miller mr. Webb
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Val scientists distinguished guests and
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ladies and gentlemen I appreciate your
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president having made me an honorary
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visiting professor and I will assure you
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that my first lecture will be very brief
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I am delighted to be here and I'm
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particularly delighted to be here on
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this occasion we meet at a college noted
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for knowledge in a city noted the
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progress in a state noted for strength
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and we stand in need of all three when
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we meet in an hour of change and
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challenge in a decade of hope and fear
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in an age of both knowledge and
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ignorance the greater our knowledge
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increases the greater our ignorance
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unfolds despite the striking fact that
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most of the scientists that the world
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has ever known are alive and working
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today despite the fact that this
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nation's own scientific manpower is
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doubling every 12 years in a rate of
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growth more than three times that of our
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population as a whole
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despite that the vast stretches of the
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unknown and the unanswered and the
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unfinished still far outstrip our
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collective comprehension no man can
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fully grasp how far and how fast we have
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come but condense if you will the 50,000
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years of man's recorded history in a
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time span of but a half a century stated
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in these terms we know very little about
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the first 40 years except at the end of
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them advanced man had learned to use the
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skins of animals to cover them then
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about 10 years
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go under this standard man emerged from
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his caves to construct other kinds of
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Sheldon only five years ago
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man learned to write and use a cart with
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wheels Christianity began less than two
00:03:23
years ago the printing press came this
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year and then less than two months ago
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during this whole 50-year span of human
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history the steam engine provided a new
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source of power
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Newton explored the meaning of gravity
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last lunch electric lights and
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telephones and automobiles and airplanes
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became available only last week did we
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develop penicillin and television and
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nuclear power and now if America's new
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spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus we
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will have literally reached the Stars
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before midnight tonight this is a
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breathtaking pace and such a pace cannot
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help but create new wails as it dispels
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old new ignorance new problems new
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dangers surely the opening vistas of
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space promise high costs and hardships
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as well as high reward so it is not
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surprising that some would have us stay
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where we are a little longer to rest to
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wait but this city of Houston this state
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of Texas this country of the United
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States was not built by those who waited
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and rested and wish to look behind them
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[Applause]
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this country was conquered by those who
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move forward and so will space
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William Bradford speaking in 1630 of the
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founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony said
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that all great and honourable actions
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are accompanied with great difficulty
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and both must be enterprise and overcome
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with answerable courage if this capsule
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history of our progress teaches us
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anything it is that man and his quest
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for knowledge and progress is determined
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and cannot be deterred the exploration
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of space will go ahead whether we join
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in it or not and it is one of the great
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adventures of all time and no nation
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which expects to be the leader of other
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nations can expect to stay behind in
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this race for space those who came
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before us made certain that this country
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rode the first waves of the Industrial
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Revolution the first waves of modern
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invention and the first wave of nuclear
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power and this generation does not
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intend to founder in the backwash of the
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coming age of space we mean to be a part
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of it we mean to lead it
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[Applause]
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for the eyes of the world now look into
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space to the moon and to the planets
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beyond and we have vowed that we shall
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not see it governed by a hostile flag of
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conquest but by a banner of freedom and
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peace we evolved that we shall not see
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space filled with weapons of mass
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destruction but with instruments of
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knowledge and understanding yet the vows
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of this nation can only be fulfilled if
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we in this nation are first and
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therefore we intend to be first
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[Applause]
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in short our leadership in science and
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industry our hopes for peace and
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security our obligations to ourselves as
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well as others all require us to make
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this effort to solve these mysteries to
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solve them for the good of all men and
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to become the world's leading
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spacefaring nation we set sail on this
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new sea because there is new knowledge
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to be gained and new rights to be won
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and they must be won and used for the
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progress of all people for space science
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like nuclear science and all technology
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has no conscience of its own whether it
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will become a force for good or ill
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depends on man and only if the United
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States occupies a position of
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preeminence can we help decide whether
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this new ocean will be a sea of peace or
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a new terrifying theater of war I do not
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say that we should or will go
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unprotected against the hostile misuse
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of space any more than we go unprotected
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against the hostile use of land or sea
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but I do say that space can be explored
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and mastered without feeding the fires
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of war without repeating the mistakes
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that man is made and extending his writ
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around this globe of ours
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there is no strife no prejudice no
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national conflict in outer space as yet
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its hazards a hostile to us all its
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conquest deserves the best of all
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mankind and its opportunity for peaceful
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cooperation may never come again but why
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some say the moon why choose this as our
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goal and they may well ask why climb the
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highest mountain why 35 years ago fly
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the Atlantic why does Rice play Texas we
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choose to go to the moon we choose to go
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to the moon
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[Applause]
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we choose to go to the moon in this
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decade and do the other things not
00:09:54
because they are easy but because they
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are hard because that goal will serve to
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organize and measure the best of our
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energies and skills because that
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challenge is one that we are willing to
00:10:08
accept one we are unwilling to postpone
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and one we intend to win and the others
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too it is for these reasons that I
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regard the decision last year to shift
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our efforts in space from low to high
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gear as among the most important
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decision that will be made during my
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incumbency in the office of the
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presidency in the last 24 hours we have
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seen facilities now being created for
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the greatest and most complex
00:10:44
exploration in man's history we have
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felt the ground shake and the air
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shattered by the testing of a Saturn c1
00:10:53
booster rocket many times as powerful as
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the Atlas which launched John glamour
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generating power equivalent to 10,000
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automobiles with their accelerator on
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the floor we have seen the site where
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five f1 rocket engines each one as
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powerful as all eight engines of the
00:11:16
Saturn combine will be clustered
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together to make the advanced Saturn
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missile assembled in a new building to
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be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a
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48 story structure as wide as a city
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block and as long as two lengths of this
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field within these last 19 months at
00:11:39
least 45 satellites have circled the
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earth some 40 of them were made in the
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United States of America and they were
00:11:48
far more sophisticated and supplied far
00:11:51
more knowledge to the people of the
00:11:53
world than those of the Soviet Union
00:11:56
the Mariner spacecraft
00:12:03
the Meredith spacecraft now on its way
00:12:06
to Venus is the most intricate
00:12:08
instrument in the history of space
00:12:10
science the accuracy of that shot is
00:12:14
comparable to firing a missile from Cape
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Canaveral and dropping it in this
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stadium between the 40-yard lines
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transit satellites are helping our ships
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at sea to steer a safer course tyrus
00:12:28
satellites have given us unprecedented
00:12:29
warnings of hurricanes and storms and
00:12:32
will do the same for forest fires and
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icebergs
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we have had off there yet but so of
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others even if they do not admit them
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and they may be less public to be sure
00:12:45
[Applause]
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you'll be sure we are behind and we'll
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be behind for some time in man flight
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but we do not intend to stay behind and
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in this decade we shall make up and move
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ahead
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[Applause]
00:13:09
the growth of our science and education
00:13:12
will be enriched by new knowledge of our
00:13:15
universe and environment by new
00:13:18
techniques of learning and mapping and
00:13:20
observation by new tools and computers
00:13:23
for industry medicine in the whole as
00:13:26
well as the school technical
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institutions such as rice will reap the
00:13:31
harvest of these games and finally the
00:13:34
space effort itself while still in its
00:13:37
infancy has already created a great
00:13:40
number of new companies and tens and
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thousands of new jobs space and related
00:13:46
industries are generating new demands in
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investment and skilled personnel and
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this city and this state and this region
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will share greatly in this growth what
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was once the furthest outpost on the old
00:14:02
frontier of the West will be the
00:14:04
furthest outpost on the new frontier of
00:14:07
science and space Houston
00:14:14
your city of Houston with its manned
00:14:17
spacecraft Center will become the heart
00:14:21
of a large scientific and engineering
00:14:23
community during the next five years the
00:14:28
National Aeronautics and Space
00:14:29
Administration expects to double the
00:14:32
number of scientists and engineers in
00:14:34
this area to increase its outlays for
00:14:37
salaries and expenses to sixty million
00:14:39
dollars a year to invest some 200
00:14:42
million dollars in plan and laboratory
00:14:45
facilities and to direct or contract for
00:14:48
new space efforts over 1 billion dollars
00:14:51
from this Center in this city to be sure
00:14:55
all this costs us all a good deal of
00:14:57
money
00:14:58
this year's space budget is three times
00:15:01
what it was in January 1961 and it is
00:15:06
greater than the space budget of the
00:15:08
previous eight years combined that
00:15:11
budget now stands at five billion four
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hundred million dollars a year a
00:15:16
staggering sum though somewhat less than
00:15:19
we pay for cigarettes and cigars every
00:15:22
year space expenditures
00:15:25
[Applause]
00:15:30
space expenditures will soon rise Samoa
00:15:33
from 40 cents per person for a week to
00:15:38
more than 50 cents a week for every man
00:15:40
woman and child in the United States for
00:15:44
we have given this program a high
00:15:46
national priority even though I realized
00:15:49
that this is in some measure an act of
00:15:52
faith and vision for we do not now know
00:15:56
what benefits await us but if I were to
00:16:00
say my fellow citizens that we shall
00:16:03
send to the moon 240,000 miles away from
00:16:08
the control station in Houston a giant
00:16:11
rocket more than 300 feet tall the
00:16:15
length of this football field made of
00:16:17
new metal alloys some of which have not
00:16:20
yet been invented capable of standing
00:16:23
heat and stresses several times more
00:16:26
than have ever been experienced fitted
00:16:28
together with a precision better than
00:16:31
the finest watch carrying all the
00:16:34
equipment needed for propulsion guidance
00:16:36
control communications food and survival
00:16:39
on an untried mission to an unknown
00:16:44
celestial body and then return it safely
00:16:47
to earth re-entering the atmosphere at
00:16:50
speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour
00:16:53
causing heat about half that on the
00:16:56
temperature of the Sun almost as hot as
00:16:58
it is here today and do all this and do
00:17:02
all this and do it right and do it first
00:17:05
before this dictators out then we must
00:17:08
be bold
00:17:18
I'm the one who's doing all the work so
00:17:20
we get points to stay cool for a minute
00:17:24
however I think we're going to do it and
00:17:26
I think that we must pay what needs to
00:17:29
be paid I don't think we ought to waste
00:17:31
any money but I think we ought to do the
00:17:32
job and this will be done in the decade
00:17:35
of the 6th it may be done while some of
00:17:38
you are still here at school at this
00:17:39
college and university it will be done
00:17:42
during the terms of office of some of
00:17:44
the people who sit here on this platform
00:17:46
but it will be done and it will be done
00:17:48
before the end of this decade and I am
00:17:51
delighted that this university is
00:17:52
playing a part in putting a man on the
00:17:55
moon as part of a great national effort
00:17:57
of the United States of America
00:18:07
many years ago the Great British
00:18:09
explorer George Mallory who was to die
00:18:12
on Mount Everest was asked why did he
00:18:16
want to climb it he said because it is
00:18:19
there well space is there and we're
00:18:22
going to climb it and the moon and the
00:18:24
planets are there and New Hope's for
00:18:27
knowledge and peace avail and therefore
00:18:29
as we set sail we ask God's blessing on
00:18:33
the most hazardous and dangerous and
00:18:36
greatest adventure on which man has ever
00:18:38
embarked thank you
00:18:40
[Applause]
00:19:20
please remain standing God of all space
00:19:27
who has set the stars in their courses
00:19:29
and who does also dwell in the human
00:19:33
heart god of the lightyears infinite
00:19:37
beyond infinity who does also give
00:19:41
meaning to our brief years to the return
00:19:44
for thy benediction we give thee thanks
00:19:48
O God for the rights with which thou
00:19:50
hast endowed us for the freedoms which
00:19:53
Americans have secured and cherished and
00:19:55
shared for the love of truth and the
00:19:58
dreams of adventure which propel
00:20:00
pioneers out into space we are grateful
00:20:03
for the lofty vision of our president
00:20:05
for the intelligence and the eloquence
00:20:08
which give wings to his words guide and
00:20:11
protect him o father and all who are
00:20:14
entrusted with the destiny of this great
00:20:16
nation may thy blessing rest upon us all
00:20:19
bless us in our homes in our schools in
00:20:23
our laboratories our farms our factories
00:20:25
our space capsules prosper us in our
00:20:28
cities and our states make our country a
00:20:30
worthy leader of the free world and
00:20:32
grant the blessings of peace all mankind
00:20:37
army
00:20:41
[Applause]
00:20:57
[Music]
00:21:15
you
