Joe wrote:

President Kennedy had his finger on something deep and vital when he said we will go to the moon because it is a difficult challenge. -- Joe

I think if the history of Mercury/Apollo is examined dispassionately, one discovers that the failed Vienna Summit, failed Bay of Pigs invasion, perhaps the construction of the Berlin Wall, and having campaigned on a bogus "missile gap" platform were more important in setting Kennedy's goal of manned exploration of the Moon than any of the bold, noble-sounding sentiments or any "instinct to explore" that are so often cited. We were behind in a very visible and potentially nation-threatening technology, and wanted a goal far enough out that we thought we could be the first. "We choose to go to the Moon because it is difficult"--yeah, difficult enough that the Russkies couldn't just coast to that goal ahead of us based on their then current lead. The Chinese, a nation either in breath-taking ascent among the nations of the world, or on the edge of a precipice--it's hard to determine which--are now making noise about going to the moon. It will be interesting to watch how the US responds to that. I recall Johnson saying he would not like to sleep at night under the light of a communist moon... Jim