It was 40 years ago today that American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the surface of the moon, with the former uttering the now-familiar words: “That’s one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.” It was the greatest technological achievement by any nation in recorded history. Tragically, President John F. Kennedy, the man who summoned America to reach for the moon and beyond, was not alive to witness the fulfillment of his challenge. Yet, it’s instructive today to recall why JFK pointed America to the moon and was so confident that we could get there before anybody else.

Kennedy made his case at Rice University on Sept. 12, 1962, in his “We choose to go to the moon” speech. It was a time of growing Cold War tension with the Soviet Union, as the Cuban missile crisis was only weeks away from plunging the world to the brink of nuclear war. It was also a time when America seemed not up to the Soviet challenge, having lost the race to be first to orbit a man around Earth. Plus, there were those here at home who scoffed at both the feasibility and practical wisdom of going to the moon. Kennedy spoke to all of these factors and more at Rice, but one passage in particular stands out for our consideration today:

“Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it; we mean to lead it.