John F. Kennedy and Apollo

In 1960, I was a college freshman headed for a degree in physics. It may surprise a lot of people, but I supported John Kennedy that autumn more because of his attitudes about space than anything else. Whatever they say now, his speeches about the "missile gap" were also understood to be references to a "space gap". I simply knew he felt space was important, and he didn't disappoint me. He sent us to the Moon, starting in 1961. Some of his reasons -- those easiest to sell politically -- had to do with the Cold War and national prestige, but I always heard a deeper appreciation for the adventure in his speeches. The Apollo program was as much in the spirit of the New Frontier as anything he left us, and I applauded it to the end, at Apollo 17, in December, 1972. I even went to the Kennedy Space Center in July, 1971, and looked at Apollo 15 preparing to launch. I watched the launch the next morning from across the Banana River after sleeping in a station wagon on the riverbank all night.

I think deep down, Kennedy knew that we'd need those distant resources, those other worlds, asteroids, and comets all someday. I think he'd still approve of efforts to genuinely access those realms for all humanity today.

I'd like to see our politicians today act with as much foresight. Business as usual, even socially progressive business as usual, won't be enough otherwise ...