Nevin's Data "Points"

“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.” I’ve often wondered if then-President John F. Kennedy actually thought that goal was obtainable on May 25, 1961. Even as he spoke those words, [i]  he acknowledged that it would require “alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed,” not to mention funding for “other engine development and for unmanned explorations—explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight.” It was to be a magical time for our nation’s space program. There was a plan, three separate programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo) to help us get there, and an aspirational vision—with an end date/deadline! There was also a sense of national urgency (the so-called “Space Race” with the Soviets, which was a lot...

So, what did you want to be when you grew up? Now, I realize that some of you are still growing up—but I’ve never met ANYONE who said “I wanted to work with retirement plans”—and that includes me.  Indeed, what we aspire to become in our youth is complex—and often shaped by our experience(s) at the time. And while I am sure there was a period in my youth when I wanted to be a fireman, a cowboy, or maybe even a professional athlete (that one didn’t last long), my earliest memories are of wanting to be an astronaut—an aspiration that came to mind again last week on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. It was a magical time for our nation’s space program. There was a plan, three separate programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo) designed with specific mission objectives to help us get there, and a vision—as President John F. Kennedy said in May 1961—of “achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Ea...

While I am sure there was a period in my youth when I wanted to be a fireman, a cowboy, or maybe even a professional athlete, my earliest memories are of wanting to be an astronaut. Never mind that my odds of becoming a professional athlete were, even then, considerably better than those of joining the nation’s elite group of astronauts. It was evident even to me early on that I lacked the athletic acumen for a career in sports – but it took years for me to appreciate what would have been required for me to satisfy NASA’s requirements (and be able to rationalize that the “real” reason was that I was too tall). It was a magical time for our nation’s space program. There was a plan, three separate programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo) to help us get there, and a vision – as President John F. Kennedy said in May 1961 – of “achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” There was also a sense of n...