On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, signaling the attainment of President John F. Kennedy’s vision to put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth. The accomplishment required nearly a decade of research and experimentation by NASA as it worked to overcome one technical challenge after another: the ability to dock two ships together in space, the design of the Lunar Excursion Module, and the inherent difficulties of manned space travel. Each of these breakthroughs not only made the Apollo moon missions possible, but also enabled many other excursions to outer space.

But what if President Kennedy had been less ambitious? What if his vision had been to send an unmanned “rover” to the moon, or what if he hadn’t even thought it possible to reach the moon? How many of these breakthroughs would exist today? Of course, it’s difficult to say with certainty, but one thing is for sure—if mankind had never set a goal to land on the moon, we never would have gotten there.

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