The EDGE: NASA Commemorates Moonshot Moment's Golden Anniversary Agency Looks to the Future and Beyond Low-Earth Orbit

May 25, 2011

David S. Weaver
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
david.s.weaver@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 11-166

NASA COMMEMORATES MOONSHOT MOMENT'S GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY AGENCY LOOKS TO THE FUTURE AND BEYOND LOW-EARTH ORBIT

WASHINGTON -- Fifty years ago, a young president struggling with
deepening international issues set a fledgling space agency on a
course that would change the history of human exploration. NASA
commemorates President John F. Kennedy's historic speech that sent
humans safely to the moon with a series of activities and a
commitment to continue the journey of discovery and exploration that
started with a desperate race into space.

"We are moving into a bright new future that builds on a challenge
presented to us 50 years ago," said NASA Administrator Charles
Bolden. "It is important that we remember our history but we must
always look forward toward a brighter future. Our advantage now is
that we have five decades of accomplishment and world leadership in
space on which to build. The dreams President Kennedy helped make
real for our world, and the dreams we still hold, may appear to be
just out of reach but they are not out of our grasp."

On this date in 1961, Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress,
with a worldwide television audience, and announced, "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 Earth." This was seen as a bold mandate because America's
experience up to this point was Alan Shepard's suborbital Freedom 7
mission, which launched just a few weeks earlier and lasted about 15
minutes.

"Today, we have another young and vibrant president who has outlined
an urgent national need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build
our competitors and create new capabilities that will take us farther
into the solar system, and help us learn even more about our place in
the universe," Bolden added. "We stand at a moonshot moment once
again, where we have a chance to make great leaps forward to new
destinations, develop new vehicles and technologies, and new ways of
exploring."

To commemorate the address that launched NASA into history, the agency
has scheduled several events and historic multimedia perspectives,
including:

-- A special concert at 7 p.m. EDT tonight at the John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The one-hour concert
will feature the Space Philharmonic, Administrator Bolden,
astronauts, Kennedy family representatives and special guests. There
are a limited number of tickets available for the public. For more
information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/jTOKZt
-- Video and other multimedia material from President Kennedy's speech
are available on NASA Television and on the agency's Internet
homepage http://www.nasa.gov along with information about the
agency's future exploration initiatives.
-- A message from the administrator about NASA's next moonshot moment
and moving beyond Earth orbit is available on his blog at:
http://bit.ly/fNjTS2
-- An announcement later today that represents an important step in
executing the president's exploration objectives and could pave the
way for extending humanity's reach beyond low-Earth orbit and further
into space
-- NASA and the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in
Washington present "NASA | ART," from May 28 to Oct. 9. The exhibit
features more than 70 paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures,
and other forms of art illustrating the agency's mission. Admission
is free, and the exhibit is located at the Air and Space Museum's
building at Sixth Street and Independence Ave. SW.