Not Because They Are Easy

In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library has developed an astonishing real-time interactive online recreation of this formative event in human achievement.

Apollo 11 launched from Cape Canaveral Florida on July 16, 1969, and landed safely on the surface of the moon as millions watched the events unfold on live television four days later.

The We Choose The Moon interactive site allows visitors to relive the events starting from pre-launch safety checks, to blastoff, and through to the world-changing landing and Neil Armstrong's first steps on the dusty grey lunar surface.

Standing before an audience at Rice University in Houston, Texas, President John F. Kennedy delivered his impassioned rationale for America's budding program of space exploration, presenting it not simply as something that would create thousands of jobs (which it did), but as an extension of our curious spirit and hunger for discovery.

"We choose to go to the moon. 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, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because 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."

— John F. Kennedy, Sept. 12, 1962

Kennedy's vision was brought to fruition within a few short years by legions of scientists and astronauts who believed in the value of attaining such a lofty goal. The anniversary of this remarkable achievement allows us occasion to be reminded that the anticipated difficulty of a worthy goal should serve to encourage and not to deter us from moving forward.