WE choose to go to the moon- A story of how nationalism turned into a global achievement
On September 2, 1962 President John F. Kennedy made the momentous speech of the century. He said- “ 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 goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too”. This speech marked the beginning of the decade long effort of the United States to beat the Soviet Union in the ‘space-race’ during the Cold War era. Thousands of engineers, scientists, doctors, mechanics, clerks, and other professionals came together on the mission of the United States to take two men to the surface of the moon and bring them home safely. Several scientific advancements were made even before the Apollo era by both US and former USSR. The USSR was the pioneer in many great le