TEAMQUEST'S SPACEFLIGHT HOMEPAGE
In 1962 President Kennedy sent a letter KENNEDY'S LETTER to the Vice-President asking him to seriously research the possibility of beating the Russians into space. More specifically, to make an American the first human to land and walk on the surface of the Earth's moon. The Vice President responded with a letter of near equal length, outlining the specifics that would be needed to complete the task.
Kennedy held a press conference to announce the US's new space plans. The country was taken by surprise and Kennedy was the brunt of comic's jokes. Every time one mentioned the intentions to go to the moon, someone else broke into laughter. No one in the general public was taking Kennedy seriously. No one except for the Congress. The Congress had projected the costs of reaching the moon at 20 Billion Dollars. The 1962, NASA's Budget was 1.2 Billion Dollars, a far cry from 20 Billion.
The Senate and the Congress both ok'd the 1963 NASA budget and it was a huge increase of spending. We were on our way into the wild blue yander !! It was only months later that NASA announced the GEMINI PROGRAM. The US scientists were making huge gains in rocket design and technology. NASA was working overtime towards getting a US Astronaut into space first. Computer technology was advancing and this was speeding the number crunching time of the scientists and engingeers. Even though we were making headway in computer design, a room full of NASA computers were less powerful than the computer that you are viewing this Webpage on!!! Today's cars have more computer power than US spaceships up to the Shuttle!! Soon the public would start seeing the fruit of all their tax dollars and NASA's advances in design.
Gemini was introduced, and Mercury was going strong. Americans were again leading the SPACERACE. A few setbacks slowed the progress of the Mercury Program just about the time that Kennedy was assassinated. Most of our webpage viewers were not alive during this era, but if you were, you can remember how the US and the world came to a screeching halt. Not our scientists though, they worked day and night striving to make Kennedy's dream come true. It seemed now more than ever, the US was determined to be the first humans to walk on the Earth's moon.
THE APOLLO PROJECT was introduced on 07/28/1960 and was dealt a quick blow with the training accident of APOLLO I APOLLO I IMAGES on 01/27/1967 when the capsule of Apollo I ignited and the crew was consumed by flames. Apollo got right back on track and did succeed in taking a US astronaut to the moon first.
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Last Updated by TeamQuest '96 c/o hotshots@ix.netcom.com on August 15th 1996 at 20:59:59 PDT