"I am the man who arranges the blocks,
That are building a highly secret base,
Hip Hip Hurrah for the U.S.S.R,
We are sending our men to outer space!"
"Beep, beep, beep, beep
Hello there!
Sputnik sails giggling through the skies
Red flags, red faces
Jump in the race
As the Space Age begins with a surprise!"
Hello there!
Sputnik sails giggling through the skies
Red flags, red faces
Jump in the race
As the Space Age begins with a surprise!"
— Leslie Fish, Surprise!
"The American and Russian capabilities in space science and technology mesh; they interdigitate. Each is strong where the other is weak. This is a marriage made in heaven — but one that has been surprisingly difficult to consummate.”
—Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
"From now on, we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. And it's not a miracle, we just decided to go."
— Jim Lovell, Apollo 13
"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."
— John F. Kennedy, Rice University speech, September 12, 1962
"Life has to be more than about solving problems. There have to be things that inspire you — that make you proud to be a member of humanity. The Apollo program is certainly an example of that. Only a handful of people went to the moon — and yet, actually we all went to the moon. We went with them vicariously. We shared in that adventure. I don’t think anyone would say that that was a bad idea, that that wasn’t great. We need more of those things — at least we need some of those things."
— Elon Musk
