“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.”
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy told a cheering crowd of more than 40,000 people at Rice University that American astronauts would land on the Moon by the end of the decade. With much of the needed technology not yet invented, it was a bold promise many people didn’t think was possible. In his speech, the president paints the “Space Race” as not only an opportunity to advance in technology, but also as a crucial battlefront in the burgeoning Cold War with the Soviet Union.
President Kennedy stated, “If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man and 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 canexpect to stay behind in this race for Space.”
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation has created many resources and held numerous events about President Kennedy’s initiation of the “Space Race” and the many resultant achievements derived from his work. On this page, you will find two resources that will highlight much of the work that the Foundation and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum have created to highlight this work and make it accessible to the greater community.
Space Overview
This 2-page overview of our Space resources provides links to events like our Space Fest and Space Summit; lesson plans created by the talented staff at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; interactive resources, including the JFK Moonshot! App; and more. Please enjoy exploring our many Space resources and enjoy taking off into Space with your students, children, or family members!
Journey to the Moon: A Study Guide for Educators
In celebration of this vision on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 voyage to the Moon, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation released JFK Moonshot, an immersive, augmented reality experience. Created by Digitas and sponsored by Raytheon, JFK Moonshot features the first-ever full-scale augmented reality simulation of the Saturn V Rocket launch and takes users on the five-day journey from the Earth to the Moon.
The app is available for Apple and Android devices at these links:
How can teachers use this exciting virtual reality experience and other tools about Space on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s website? To answer that question, we asked five Massachusetts educators – two STEM teachers and three Social Studies educators-- to examine these resources and suggest activities that teachers can do tied to specific resources from the app or the website. The app is organized into four sections: Launch, Track, Log, and Play.
Most of the resources cited by teachers are found in the Log and Play sections of the app.
In this guide, you will find their ideas, mapped to Massachusetts and national standards and suggested for specific grade levels and topics. These educators have provided other teachers a guide to using primary source material to teach the history of the “Space Race”, international relations, and the science and math behind rocketry.
We hope that you and your students will enjoy using these resources as you lift off into your own journey to the Moon!