THE UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP IN SPACE PROJECTS 12 CONTRIBUTIONS OF EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH PROGRAMS PRESIDENT'S GREETING JOHN F. KENNEDY President of the United States The opportunity to lead the way into space has been thrust upon this generation of Americans, just as 2 decades ago in Chicago another generation unlocked the power of the atom. We have accepted the opportunity as well as the challenge of space exploration. But we can succeed in carrying out the tasks ahead only to the degree that our people understand what our aims are, and what the difficulties are, in our quest to master space and to gain all the benefits of scientific knowledge and technology which will come with that mastery. We shall need to call upon some of our finest minds in science, engineering, and management. We must lay our plans wisely remembering that the costly and complicated tools of space exploration have to be designed and developed years before they can be put to use. The building and testing of rocket engines and spacecraft and the training of crews for manned space flight must progress with a minimum of wasteful stops and starts. Adequate funds and resources must be available when they are needed. We must make the requirements of our national space program known to every American. But we must also make sure that every American understands all that this program can contribute to our economy and to our future well-being. We know we cannot hold back tomorrow. The tomorrow of the space age is inevitable. For our nation there can only be a determination that it will be a free tomorrow. We are outward bound. I am convinced that our broad and accelerating exploration of space will help bring this nation to a destiny more splendid than any dreamed by our predecessors. |