Excerpted form the Rice University speech by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962:

"William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulty and both most must be enterprised and overcome with ansewerable courage. If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man and his quest for knowledge and progress is determined and cannot be detered. The exploration of space will go ahead, weither we join in it or not, we need to be a part of it-we need to lead it.

For the eyes of the World now look into space, to the Moon and to the planets beyond. Our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves, as well as others, all require us to make this effort. To solve these mysteries. To solve them for the good of all men. There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space-as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind.

WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON!
WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON!

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy – but because they are hard! Because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone and one we intend to win!"


JFK made two historic speeches which ignited the U.S. space program. The one where Kennedy commits us to going to the Moon was on May 25, 1961 in a speech on urgent national needs delivered before a joint session of Congress.

The "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade, and do the other things" speech was delivered at Rice University on Sep 12, 1962- almost a year and a half later.