60th anniversary of JFK's 1961 speech to land on the moon in spotlight as NASA returns in 2024

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered a 46-minute speech that included historical context of the Cold War and how the US planned to triumph over the Soviets, but what won the hearts of the American people was his plan to send humans to the moon. 'Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share...,' the late president said while standing behind the lectern during a joint session of Congress. 'First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.' The US had not even sent a human into orbit at the time of the speech, which placed it far behind the Soviets who had sent an astronaut to space a month before Kennedy addressed the nation.