Adventures on the Moon: The Vision, the Shot and the Budget

Technically, there was no such thing as NASA when I was born. One week later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act; NASA. Four years later, in 1962, the next President, John F Kennedy announced the moonshot. Many are familiar with the JFK quote, “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,” That hard thing was to land on the moon which NASA did in less than a decade under President Richard M Nixon.

Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks plays a large portion of the JFK’s moonshot speech given on September 12, 1962, at Rice University’s Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas. Part of the opening:

“We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.”

President John F Kennedy

That line, “The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.” Seems so relevant more than 50 years later for so many reasons. With the moonshot, it inspires awe to think, Eisenhower signed to create NASA, and as a Senator, Lyndon Baines Johnson, championed and fought for the creation of the agency. Kennedy gave NASA a mission. President Johnson expanded the funding. President Nixon’s space doctrine also included a push for greater international cooperation in space activities. These four presidents, both republicans and democrats built upon a vision.

As the current administration continues to dismantle and defund key foundation programs, the words of JFK continue to ring through and in a way explain. “The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.” The space programs are’t just about space. Everything from food packaging, the microchip technology on your cell phones and GPS systems to name a few are the results of space exploration. The Lunar Land Rover, was an electric vehicle. And while at first glance, the moonshot could have been viewed as a vanity program, these are significant break throughs and achievements. Sadly, the proposed 2026 budget shows cuts of 57% to the NSF, 40% to the NIH, 53% to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and 47% to NASA’s science budget.

This week, consider, Kennedy’s moonshot speech. Does “The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds,” resonate? Do you have your own moonshot?