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By: Myles
John F. Kennedy wanted the United States to start a space race. The Soviet Union had more knowledge of space exploration that the U.S., which made Kennedy more, determined that the U.S. needed to catch up with them. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy announced at a special Congress meeting to decide how safe it was to send an American to the moon before the end of the 1960’s. Many reasons affected Kennedy’s decision. John F. Kennedy felt a lot of pressure because the U.S. had to catch up and over take the Soviet Union in the space race. Yuri Gargurin was the first human in space, and Alan Shepard was the first American in space. Vice President Johnson, NASA administrator James Webb, and other officials said that landing an American on the moon would be hard. In 1961, Freedom 7 launched into space but it was not made to orbit earth so it came back. In 1969, six years after Kennedy’s death, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. became the first Americans to walk on the moon.
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