Objective The Moon:  American Launch:

The Gagarin feat was the first major space event of the "Golden Sixties". It would lead to others which were to follow on from each other both in the Soviet East and the American West. Far from being satisfied, the human appetite for knowing more by moving back the frontier of space culminated on 20 and 21 July 1969, with Man's first steps on the Moon. But these steps came from America. It was the star-studded banner ofthe USA which was planted by NASA's astronauts in the lunar desert of the "Sea of Tranquility".  

The American nation, who had just entrusted the White House to the young president John Kennedy (1917-1963) were not indifferent to Gagarin's 108 minutes around the earth. John Kennedy took advice from NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration), more specifically from Wernher von Braun (1912-1977)who had saved America's honour after the first two Sputniks. Its response to Moscow's stranglehold on outer space took the form of amemorable speech by President Kennedy to Congress on 25 May 1961. That is seven weeks after the first manned flight in orbit. He invited the USA to "commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth". He went on: "No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space. None will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”
 
A race to put "A Man on the Moon" had started. The countdown had begun. America where,in 1961, the technology of manned space flights was in its infancy, had 104 months - until December 1969 - to achieve its daring goal. One hundred and four months of intense mobilisation. Everything went veryquickly. Too quickly. Ultimately, between President Kennedy setting thegoal and the return of astronauts who had walked on the surface of themoon, barely 98 months had passed!

Astronautics or the conquest of space showed proved to be an affair of State(s). It was spurred on by the Cold War, which characterised the strained relations between the Communist regime of the Soviet Union (Russia) and the capitalist system of the United States. It served as the setting forrivalry of prestige for space missions, then an epic race to the Moon. In tens of billions of roubles and billions of dollars, Moscow played the secrecy card and Washington surfed on the media wave. The twopowers of the 1960s launched themselves into a technologicalcompetition with political ends. The Europeans watched and marvelled at the feats of space exploration that the Soviets and Americans were achieving.

Some had greater vision...This year the human space adventure is celebrating half a century of achievements, missions and applications but its prowess, its discoveries and its impact on society are no longer a source of wonder. Given its sky-high costs and the priorities with which our planet is confronted for its survival, the colonisation of other bodies of the solar system will take time, a lot of time. But the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, famous for his theory on the birth of the universe, although worried about the deterioration of the earth's environment, does not hesitate to call on the international community to take a leap into the unknown:  “It isimportant for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species!”.

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