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President Pitzer,
Mr. Vice President, Governor,

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Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley,
and Congressman Miller,

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Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell,

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scientists, distinguished guests,
and ladies and gentlemen:

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I appreciate your president having
made me an honorary visiting professor,

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and I will assure you that my first
lecture will be very brief.

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I am delighted to be here

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and I'm particularly delighted
to be here on this occasion.

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We meet at a college noted for knowledge,
in a city noted for progress,

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in a state noted for strength,
and we stand in need of all three,

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for we meet in an hour of change
and challenge,

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in a decade of hope and fear,

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in an age of both knowledge and ignorance.

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The greater our knowledge increases,
the greater our ignorance unfolds.

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Despite the striking fact
that most of the scientists

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that the world has ever known are alive
and working today,

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despite the fact

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that this Nation's own scientific
manpower is doubling every 12 years

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in a rate of growth more than three times
that of our population as a whole,

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despite that, the vast
stretches of the unknown

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and the unanswered

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and the unfinished still far
outstrip our collective comprehension.

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No man can fully grasp how far
and how fast we have come,

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but condense, if you will,

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the 50 thousand
years of man's recorded history

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in a time span of but a half-century.

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Stated in these terms, we know
very little about the first 40 years,

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except at the end of them

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advanced man had learned
to use the skins of animals to cover them.

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Then about 10 years ago,
under this standard,

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man emerged from his caves
to construct other kinds of shelter.

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Only five years ago man learned to write
and use a cart with wheels.

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Christianity began
less than two years ago.

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The printing press came this year,

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and then less than two months ago,

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during this whole 50-year
span of human history,

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the steam engine provided
a new source of power.

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Newton explored the meaning of gravity.

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Last month electric lights and telephones

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and automobiles
and airplanes became available.

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Only last week did we develop penicillin
and television and nuclear power,

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and now if America's new
spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus,

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we will have literally reached
the stars before midnight tonight.

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This is a breathtaking pace,

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and such a pace cannot help
but create new ills as it dispels old,

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new ignorance, new problems, new dangers.

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Surely the opening vistas of space
promise high costs and hardships,

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as well as high reward.

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So it is not surprising

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that some would have us stay where
we are a little longer to rest, to wait.

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But this city of Houston,
this state of Texas,

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this country of the United States
was not built by those who waited

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and rested and wished to look behind them.

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This country was conquered by those who
moved forward—and so will space.

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William Bradford,

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speaking in 1630 of the founding

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of the Plymouth Bay Colony,

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said that all great

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and honorable actions are accompanied
with great difficulties,

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and both must be enterprised
and overcome with answerable courage.

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If this capsule history of our progress
teaches us anything,

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it is that man,
in his quest for knowledge and progress,

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is determined and cannot be deterred.

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The exploration of space will go ahead,

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whether we join in it or not,

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and it is one of the great
adventures of all time,

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and no nation which expects

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to be the leader of other
nations can expect

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to stay behind in this race for space.

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Those who came before us made certain

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that this country rode the first
waves of the industrial revolution,

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the first waves of modern invention,

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and the first wave of nuclear power,

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and this generation does not intend
to founder

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in the backwash of the coming
age of space.

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We mean to be a part of it—we mean
to lead it.

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For the eyes of the world now look
into space,

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to the moon and to the planets beyond,

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and we have vowed
that we shall not see it governed

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by a hostile flag of conquest,

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but by a banner of freedom and peace.

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We have vowed that we shall not see space
filled with weapons of mass destruction,

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but with instruments of knowledge
and understanding.

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Yet the vows of this Nation
can only be fulfilled

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if we in this Nation are first,

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and, therefore, we intend to be first.

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In short,
our leadership in science and industry,

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our hopes for peace and security,

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our obligations to ourselves
as well as others,

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all require us to make this effort,
to solve these mysteries,

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to solve them for the good of all men,

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and to become the world's
leading space-faring nation.

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We set sail on this new sea because
there is new knowledge to be gained,

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and new rights to be won,

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and they must be won and used
for the progress of all people.

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For space science,
like nuclear science and all technology,

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has no conscience of its own.

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Whether it will become a force
for good or ill depends on man,

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and only if the United States
occupies a position of pre-eminence

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can we help decide whether
this new ocean will be a sea of peace

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or a new terrifying theater of war.

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I do not say that we should

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or will go unprotected against
the hostile misuse of space

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any more than we go unprotected
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 of war,

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without repeating the mistakes
that man has made

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in extending his writ
around this globe of ours.

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There is no strife, no prejudice,

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no national conflict
in outer space as yet.

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Its hazards are hostile to us all.

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Its conquest deserves
the best of all mankind,

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and its opportunity for peaceful
cooperation may never come again.

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But why, some say, the moon?

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Why choose this as our goal?

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And they may well ask why
climb the highest mountain?

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Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?

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Why does Rice play Texas?

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We choose to go to the moon.

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We choose to go to the moon...

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We choose to go to the moon in this decade
and do the other things,

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not because they are easy,
but because they are hard,

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because that goal will serve to organize

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and measure the best of our energies
and skills,

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because that challenge is one
that we are willing to accept,

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one we are unwilling to postpone,

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and one which we intend to win,
and the others, too.

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It is for these reasons
that I regard the decision last year

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to shift our efforts
in space from low to high gear

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as among the most important decisions

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that will be made during my incumbency
in the office of the Presidency.

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In the last 24 hours we have seen
facilities now being created

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for the greatest and most complex
exploration in man's history.

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We have felt the ground shake
and the air shattered

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by the testing of a Saturn C-1
booster rocket,

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many times as powerful as the Atlas
which launched John Glenn,

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generating power equivalent
to 10 thousand automobiles

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with their accelerators on the floor.

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We have seen the site
where five F-1 rocket engines,

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each one as powerful as all eight
engines of the Saturn combined,

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will be clustered together
to make the advanced Saturn missile,

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assembled in a new building
to be built at Cape Canaveral

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as tall as a 48 story structure,

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as wide as a city block,
and as long as two lengths of this field.

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Within these last 19 months at least
45 satellites have circled the earth.

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Some 40 of them were made
in the United States of America

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and they were far more sophisticated

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and supplied far more knowledge
to the people of the world

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than those of the Soviet Union.

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The Mariner spacecraft...

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The Mariner spacecraft now on its way

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to Venus is the most intricate instrument
in the history of space science.

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The accuracy of that shot is comparable

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to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral

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and dropping it in this stadium
between the 40-yard lines.

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Transit satellites are helping our ships
at sea to steer a safer course.

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Tiros satellites
have given us unprecedented

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warnings of hurricanes and storms,

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and will do the same
for forest fires and icebergs.

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We have had our failures,

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but so have others,
even if they do not admit them.

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And they may be less public.

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To be sure,...

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To be sure, we are behind,

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and will be behind
for some time in manned flight.

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But we do not intend to stay behind,

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and in this decade,
we shall make up and move ahead.

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The growth of our science
and education will be enriched

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by new knowledge of our universe
and environment,

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by new techniques of learning
and mapping and observation,

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by new tools and computers for industry,
medicine,

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and the home as well as the school.

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Technical institutions, such as Rice,
will reap the harvest of these gains.

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And finally, the space effort itself,

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while still in its infancy,

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has already created a great
number of new companies,

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and tens of thousands of new jobs.

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Space and related industries
are generating new demands

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in investment and and skilled personnel,

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and this city and this state,

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and this region,
will share greatly in this growth.

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What was once the furthest outpost
on the old frontier of the West

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will be the furthest outpost
on the new frontier of science and space.

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Houston, your city of Houston,

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with its Manned Spacecraft Center,

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will become the heart of of a large
scientific and engineering community.

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During the next 5 years
the National Aeronautics

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and Space Administration expects to double

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the number of scientists
and engineers in this area,

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to increase its outlays for salaries

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and expenses to 60 million dollars a year;

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to invest some 200 million dollars
in plant and laboratory facilities;

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and to direct
or contract for new space efforts

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over 1 billion dollars
from this center in this city.

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To be sure, all this costs
us all a good deal of money.

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This year's space budget is three
times what it was in January 1961,

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and it is greater

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than the space budget of the previous
eight years combined.

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That budget now stands at 5 billion 400

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million dollars a year—a staggering sum,

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though somewhat less than we pay
for cigarettes and cigars every year.

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Space expenditures...

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Space expenditures
will soon rise some more,

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from 40 cents per person per week

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to more than 50 cents a week for every
man, woman and child in the United States,

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for we have given this program a high
national priority—even though I realize

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that this is in some measure
an act of faith and vision,

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for we do not now know
what benefits await us.

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But if I were to say, my fellow citizens,
that we shall send to the moon,

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240 thousand miles away
from the control station in Houston,

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a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall,

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the length of this football field,
made of new metal alloys,

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some of which have not yet been invented,

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capable of standing heat and stresses

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several times more than have ever
been experienced,

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fitted together with a precision better
than the finest watch,

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carrying all the equipment needed
for propulsion,

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guidance, control, communications,

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food and survival, on an untried mission,

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to an unknown celestial body,
and then return it safely to earth,

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re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of
over 25 thousand miles per hour,

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causing heat about half
that of the temperature of the sun—almost

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as hot as it is here today—and
do all this, and do it right,

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and do it first before this decade
is out—then we must be bold.

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I'm the one who is doing all the work,

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so we just want you to stay cool
for a minute.

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However, I think we're going to do it,

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and I think
that we must pay what needs to be paid.

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I don't think we ought to waste any money,
but I think we ought to do the job.

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And this will be done
in the decade of the Sixties.

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It may be done
while some of you are still here

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at school at this college and university.

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It will be done during
the terms of office of some of the people

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who sit here on this platform.

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But it will be done.

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And it will be done before
the end of this decade.

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And I am delighted

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that this university is playing a part
in putting a man on the moon

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as part of a great national
effort of the United States of America.

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Many years ago the great
British explorer George Mallory,

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who was to die on Mount Everest,
was asked why did he want to climb it.

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He said, "Because it is there."

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Well, space is there,

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and we're going to climb it,
and the moon and the planets are there,

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and new hopes for knowledge
and peace are there.

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And, therefore, as we set sail we ask
God's blessing on the most hazardous

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and dangerous and greatest adventure
on which man has ever embarked.

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Thank you.