肯尼迪登演讲Wechootogotothemoon英文原文

2024年2月15日发(作者：关于生命的手抄报)

President Pitzer; Mr. Vice President; Governor; Congressman

Thomas; Senator Wiley; and Congressman Miller; Mr. Webb; Mr. Bell;

scientists; distinguished guests; and ladies and gentlemen:

I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting

professor; and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very

brief.

I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be

here on this occasion.

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 increas; the greater our ignorance unfolds.

Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the

world has ever known are alive and working today; despite the fact

that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12

years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population

as a whole; despite that; the vast stretches of the unknown and the

unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective

comprehension.

No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come; but

conden; if you will; the 50;000 years of man's recorded history

in a time span of but a half-century. Stated in the terms; we know

very little about the first 40 years; except at the end of them

advanced man had learned to u the skins of animals to cover them.

Then about 10 years ago; under this standard; man emerged from his

caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man

learned to write and u a cart with wheels. Christianity began less

than two years ago. The printing press came this year; and then less

than two months ago; during this whole 50-year span of human history;

the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored

the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones

and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only last week did

we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power; and now if

America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus; we will have

literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.

This is a breathtaking pace; and such a pace cannot help but

create new ills as it dispels old; new ignorance; new problems; new

dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promi high costs and

hardships; as well as high reward.

So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we

are a little longer to rest; to wait. But this city of Houston; this

state of Texas; this country of the United States was not built by

tho who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This

country was conquered by tho who moved forward--and so will space.

William Bradford; speaking in 1630 of the founding of the

Plymouth Bay Colony; said that all great and honorable actions are

accompanied with great difficulties; and both must be enterprid

and overcome with answerable courage.

If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything; it

is that man; in his quest for knowledge and progress; is determined

and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead;

whether we join in it or not; and it is one of the great adventures

of all time; and no nation which expects to be the leader of other

nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space.

Tho who came before us made certain that this country rode the

first waves of the industrial revolution; the first waves of modern

invention; and the first wave of nuclear power; and this generation

does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space.

We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the

world now look into space; to the moon and to the planets beyond;

and we have vowed that we shall not e it governed by a hostile

flag of conquest; but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed

that we shall not e space filled with weapons of mass destruction;

but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.

Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this

Nation are first; and; therefore; we intend to be first. In short;

our leadership in science and industry; our hopes for peace and

curity; our obligations to ourlves as well as others; all

require us to make this effort; to solve the mysteries; to solve

them for the good of all men; and to become the world's leading

space-faring nation.

We t sail on this new a becau there is new knowledge to

be gained; and new rights to be won; and they must be won and ud

for the progress of all people. For space science; like nuclear

science and all technology; has no conscience of its own. Whether

it will become a force for good or ill depends on man; and only if

the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help

decide whether this new ocean will be a a of peace or a new

terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go

unprotected against the hostile misu of space any more than we

go unprotected against the hostile u of land or a; but I do say

that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires

of war; without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending

his writ around this globe of ours.

There is no strife; no prejudice; no national conflict in outer

space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest

derves the best of all mankind; and its opportunity for peaceful

cooperation may never come again. But why; some say; the moon Why

choo this as our goal And they may well ask why climb the highest

mountain Why; 35 years ago; fly the Atlantic Why does Rice play

Texas

We choo to go to the moon. We choo to go to the moon in this

decade and do the other things; not becau they are easy; but

becau they are hard; becau that goal will rve to organize and

measure the best of our energies and skills; becau 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.

It is for the reasons that I regard the decision last year to

shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most

important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the

office of the Presidency.

In the last 24 hours we have en facilities now being created

for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. We

have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of

a Saturn C-1 booster rocket; many times as powerful as the Atlas

which launched John Glenn; generating power equivalent to 10;000

automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. We have en the

site where five F-1 rocket engines; each one as powerful as all eight

engines of the Saturn combined; will be clustered together to make

the advanced Saturn missile; asmbled in a new building to be built

at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48-storey structure; as wide as a

city block; and as long as two lengths of this field.

Within the last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled

the earth. Some 40 of them were made in the United States of America

and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge

to the people of the world than tho of the Soviet Union.

The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most

intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy

of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral

and dropping it in this stadium between the 40-yard lines.

Transit satellites are helping our ships at a to steer a safer

cour. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of

hurricanes and storms; and will do the same for forest fires and

icebergs.

We have had our failures; but so have others; even if they do

not admit them. And they may be less public.

To be sure; we are behind; and will be behind for some time in

manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind; and in this decade;

we shall make up and move ahead.

The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new

knowledge of our univer and environment; by new techniques of

learning and mapping and obrvation; by new tools and computers

for industry; medicine; the home as well as the school. Technical

institutions; such as Rice; will reap the harvest of the gains.

And finally; the space effort itlf; while still in its infancy;

has already created a great number of new companies; and tens of

thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating

new demands in investment and skilled personnel; and this city and

this state; and this region; will share greatly in this growth. What

was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will

be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space.

Houston; your city of Houston; with its Manned Spacecraft Center;

will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering

community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and

engineers in this area; to increa its outlays for salaries and

expens to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant

and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space

efforts over $1 billion from this center in this city.

To be sure; all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year's

space budget is three times what it was in January 1961; and it is

greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined.

That budget now stands at $5;400 million a year--a staggering sum;

though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every

year. Space expenditures will soon ri some more; from 40 cents

per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man; woman

and child in the United States; for we have given this program a

high national priority--even though I realize that this is in some

measure an act of faith and vision; for we do not now know what

benefits await us. But if I were to say; my fellow citizens; that

we shall nd to the moon; 240;000 miles away from the control

station in Houston; a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall; the

length of this football field; made of new metal alloys; some of

which have not yet been invented; capable of standing heat and

stress veral times more than have ever been experienced; fitted

together with a precision better than the finest watch; carrying

all the equipment needed for propulsion; guidance; control;

communications; food and survival; on an untried mission; to an

unknown celestial body; and then return it safely to earth;

re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25;000 miles per hour;

causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost

as hot as it is here today--and do all this; and do it right; and

do it first before this decade is out--then we must be bold.

I'm the one who is doing all the work; so we just want you to

stay cool for a minute.

However; I think we're going to do it; and I think that we must

pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money;

but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the

decade of the Sixties. It may be done while some of you are still

here at school at this college and university. It will be done during

the terms of office of some of the people who sit here on this

platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end

of this decade.

And I am delighted that this university is playing a part in

putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the

United States of America.

Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory; who

was to die on Mount Everest; was asked why did he want to climb it.

He said; "Becau it is there."

Well; space is there; and we're going to climb it; and the moon

and the planets are there; and new hopes for knowledge and peace

are there. And; therefore; as we t sail we ask God's blessing on

the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which

man has ever embarked.