I am a firm nonbeliever when it comes to the cult of John F. Kennedy, but like an atheist admiring the King James Bible, even I can appreciate some of the Kennedy scriptures. So as our latest lunar mission circles back to Earth, I find myself revisiting the speech at Rice University that launched us moonward. In that address, Kennedy declared that America would be ascending to the moon for the same reason that mountain climbers attempt Everest: because “space is there, and we’re going to climb it.” What’s striking,…
The Idealism of the Space Program Isn’t Enough
