Kennedy and the Space Program

Kennedy Background

• Born in Mass.- 1917• War hero WWII- Jackie• Debated Nixon in 1960 and won as

Democratic/ Roman Catholic candidate• Assassinated Nov. 21 1963 in Dallas by

Lee Harvey Oswald• Important more for what he could have

done that what he did

Space Race Speech

Sept. 12th, 1962 at Rice University

May 25, 1961- Speech to Joint Session of Congress

"...if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to all of us, as did Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere... Now it is time to take longer strides-time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth. ...we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership. We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule... Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share...

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project...will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important...and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish...".

To Reach the Moon

How do we get there

a) We sent three modules

to collect information

b) Alan Shepard 15 seconds

c) A specific plan

All well and good, but how do we get there?

Direct Ascent- one craft, one landing craft, bigger rocket

Earth Orbit Rendezvous- Many pieces put together in Earth orbit

Lunar Orbit Rendezvous- All sent up together and put together in lunar orbit

The Early Years of (Wo)Manned Space Flight

Firsts- mostly Soviet (Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin)

American- Mercury- Shepard, Glenn, Ed White

Gemini- 14 days in a Volkswagen

sized compartment These flights had to practice

the different actions necessary for a lunar landing

Setbacks and Blowups

How could Ivan beat Johnny? Project Vanguard

a) Grapefruit sized IGY satellite

b) Sputnik quickened timetable

c) Ended with a “bang” and a blinking IGY in the weeds

Mercury-Atlas 1 also blows up 58 seconds into the flight

Apollo 1

Ed White, Gil Grissom, and Roger Chaffee killed in flash fire training on land for their mission

Space Race delayed for 20 months in response

Products from Space

To the moon cost 25- 35 billion, worth it?

Scratch-resistant Lenses

Freeze-Dried Food

Athletic Shoes

CAT & MRI Technologies

Cordless Power Tools

Interest In Space

Suits for Race Car Drivers

Tang

Enriched baby food

Water purification

Pool purification

Ribbed swimsuits

Golf ball dynamics

Sports training

Athletic shoes

Dust buster

shock-absorbing helmets

home security systems

smoke detectors

flat panel televisions

high-density batteries

cool sportswear

hair styling appliances

fogless ski goggles

self-adjusting sunglasses

composite golf clubs

hang gliders

art preservation

quartz crystal timing equipment.

Solar energy and photovoltaic cells.

Fire resistant materials.

Computers and Semi-Conductors

Weather Forecasting Aids.

Virtual reality

Cool Suits

Programmable Pace Maker

Micro lasers

Magnetic Liquids

Emergency Rescue Cutters.

trash compactors

food packaging and freeze-dried technology

Movie Clips: Apollo Program

Movie Clips: Gemini Program

Movie Clips: On the Moon

Movie Clips: Humans in Space

Movie Clips: Trip Back to Earth

Movie Clips: Sputnik

Movie Clips: Apollo 11

Movie Clips: Star Lab

Movie Clip: Space Shuttle