杏吧原创

Blank cheque for moon race

President John F. Kennedy has asked the American people, through their representatives in Congress, to sign a blank cheque to cover whatever the price may be to race the Russians to the moon.

According to White House bookkeeping, the bill is estimated to be as high as $29,000,000,000 by the end of the decade. The guessing ends with the year 1970 because the president expects an American to land on and return safely from the moon before that date.

In making his already historic statement 鈥� 鈥淚 believe we should go to the moon鈥� 鈥� the president was in one respect being cautious; the moon was the most distant point he named as an objective for American exploration. He didn鈥檛 even mention the planets of Mars or Venus by name. So why has the president chosen to take such an enormous fiscal and political gamble?

The Russians were the first to orbit an artificial satellite around Earth. They have orbited a man around Earth. They have hit the moon with a rocket. They have sent a rocket around the moon and have photographed the side that always faces away from Earth. So where, then, does the young man in the White House find any odds in his favour?

In short, Mr Kennedy is betting on winning the race to the moon by brute force. The obvious pay-off on the bet is that the uncommitted nations of the world will clearly see which is the stronger house in which to lodge a friend 鈥� the Kremlin or the White House.

From New 杏吧原创, 1 June 1961