The concern of Americans effectively began with the Soviet launch of the Sputnik 1 artificial satellite on 4 October 1957 and kicked off the strained relations between the USSR and the U.S.
Due to the U.S. public's concern of USSR domination of America through its control of outer space, engineering college attendance expanded throughout America....while America searched for a leader in the presidential election of 1960.
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced, before a special joint session of Congress, the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. A number of political factors affected Kennedy's decision and the timing of it. In general, Kennedy felt great pressure to have the United States "catch up to and overtake" the Soviet Union in the "space race."
Four years after the Sputnik shock of 1957, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first human in space on April 12, 1961, greatly embarrassing the U.S. While Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, he only flew on a short suborbital flight instead of orbiting the Earth, as Gagarin had done. In addition, the Bay of Pigs fiasco in mid-April put unquantifiable pressure on Kennedy. He wanted to announce a program that the U.S. had a strong chance at achieving before the Soviet Union.
After consulting with Vice President Johnson, NASA Administrator James Webb, and other officials, President Kennedy concluded that landing an American on the Moon would be a very challenging technological feat, but an area of space exploration in which the U.S. actually had a potential lead. Thus the cold war is the primary contextual lens through which many historians now view Kennedy's speech.
In the summer of 1969, Apollo Eleven landed on the Moon with Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. and Michael Collins aboard.
Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. descends from the lunar module and prepares to walk on the Moon. The Photograph was taken by Neil Armstrong.
Col. Aldrin poses for Neil Armstrong on the Moon. Aldrin's face plate reflects Armstrong, the lunar module and the U.S. flag.
Neil Armstrong took this photograph of Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. posing beside the American Flag.
Earlier American Explorers:
Cyrus Durey: Frontiersmen of the Adirondacks: Economic Development in Early North America (ebook and paperback editions)