NASA Celebrates The 50th Anniversary Of President Kennedy's Moon Speech

NASA putting a man on the moon in the 60s is one of the greatest achievements in all of human history. Looking back at the technology available to NASA during the 60s, it's incredible that so many missions into space and to the moon were conducted successfully. President John F. Kennedy spurred the country and NASA to put a man on the moon with this speech delivered at Rice University in Houston, Texas on September 12, 1962.

It was during this famous speech that President Kennedy proclaimed, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade." That speech not only kicked off the space race in earnest, but also put the United States on a course of space exploration that NASA continues to this day. To celebrate the anniversary of Kennedy's famous speech, NASA Television will air the speech in its entirety.

The speech will be a high-quality version and will begin at 11:15 AM EDT, which is the same time President Kennedy gave the speech 50 years ago. Before delivering his famous speech in Texas, Kennedy had issued a message to Congress on May 25th, 1961 tasking the US with the goal of "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

As part of the celebration NASA astronauts, scientists, and engineers will hold a Google+ Hangout to talk about the history of innovation and ingenuity at NASA and to discuss NASA's future goals for scientific discovery and human spaceflight. NASA TV will also air a message about the Kennedy speech from a NASA astronaut, Suni Williams, who's onboard the ISS and will become the commander of the space station this weekend.