Too bad he wasn't more specific [View All]

[POAS]

I therefore ask the Congress, above and beyond the increases I have earlier requested for space activities, to provide the funds which are needed to meet the following national goals:

First, 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 the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned explorations--explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight. But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon--if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.

With those short paragraphs Pres. John F Kennedy launched the program that landed men on the moon. No mention of Saturn rockets, Mercury space capsules or lunar excursion modules. No mention of John Glenn or Neil Armstrong.

Today Obama is criticized for lack of specifics in his Oval Office address on the Gulf spill. How can we accomplish the goals if Obama doesn't spell out all the specifics of the trip. How can we find our way without a Presidential GPS to guide us?