肯尼迪于1962年在賴斯大學關于航天事業(yè)的演講

肯尼迪于1962年在賴斯大學關于航天事業(yè)的演講 英文版

Houston, Texas, September 12, 1962

President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:

I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.

I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion. We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a State noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.

Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation’s own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole, despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.

No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man’s recorded history in a time span of but a half a century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than two years ago. The printing press came this year, and then less than two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America’s new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.

This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.

So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward—and so will space.

William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.

If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for space.

Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it—we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.

Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say the we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.

In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. We have seen the site where five F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.

Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were "made in the United States of America" and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.

The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the the 40-yard lines.

Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs.

We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.

To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.

The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.

And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this State, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, your City of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this Center in this City.

To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year’s space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at $5,400 million a year—a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United Stated, for we have given this program a high national priority—even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us. But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun—almost as hot as it is here today—and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out—then we must be bold.

I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute.

However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the decade of the sixties. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the term of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.

I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.

Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."

Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

Thank you.

肯尼迪于1962年在賴斯大學關于航天事業(yè)的演講 中文版

得克薩斯州休斯敦，1962年9月12日

匹茲校長、副校長、州長、湯姆斯議員、威利參議員、米勒議員、韋伯先生、貝爾先生、科學家們、尊貴的來賓、女士們、先生們：

我非常感謝你們的校長授予我名譽客座教授的頭銜。我向你們保證，我的第一個演講將會很簡潔。

我很高興來到這里，特別是在這個時候來到這里。我們在這個以知識而聞名的大學相會，在這個以進步而聞名的城市相會，在這個以實力而聞名的州相會。并且我們需要這三者，因為我們處于一個變化與挑戰(zhàn)的時期，希望與失望的10年，知識與無知并存的時代。我們獲得的知識越多，我們顯露出的無知也就越多。

盡管存在一個驚人的事實，世界上絕大多數(shù)科學家都在努力奮斗;盡管我國的科研力量以每12年翻一番的速率增長，超過了人口增長速率的3倍;盡管這樣，未知、未解和未盡的探索仍如漫漫長路，仍然遠遠超出了我們所有人的理解力。

沒有人知道我們能走多遠，能走多快。但是，如果你愿意把人類有史以來的5萬年濃縮成半個世紀的時間跨度。在這個時間跨度下，我們對于開始的40年知之甚少，除了知道在這40年的最后出現(xiàn)了學會用獸皮遮體的人類。在這個標準下，大約數(shù)年前人類走出洞穴建造新的家園。僅僅在5年前人類才學會了寫字和使用有輪子的車輛?；浇陶Q生于不到2年之前。印刷出版今年才出現(xiàn)。在人類歷史的整個50年跨度中，在最近不到兩個月的時間之前，蒸汽機為我們提供了新的動力。牛頓發(fā)現(xiàn)了引力的意義，上個月出現(xiàn)了電燈、電話、汽車和飛機。僅僅在上周我們才發(fā)明了青霉素、電視與核動力。如果現(xiàn)在美國新的飛船能夠成功抵達金星，那么我們真正算得上在今天午夜抵達別的星球了。

這是激動人心的一步。但是這樣的一步在驅(qū)散舊的痛苦、無知和問題的同時，不得不創(chuàng)造新的痛苦、新的無知和新的問題。毫無疑問，航天事業(yè)的回報高，花費和風險也高。

因此，不難理解有些人要我們在原地止步不前繼續(xù)等待。但是休斯敦市、德克薩斯州，美利堅合眾國并不是由那些止步不前的人建立的。這個國家是由不斷前進的人征服的，航天事業(yè)也是這樣。

威廉·布拉德福德在1630年普利茅斯灣殖民地建立儀式上說，所有偉大而光榮的舉動都伴隨著巨大的困難，而兩者都應該被有責任感的勇氣所克服。

如果說這個人類進步的濃縮歷史給了我們什么啟示，那就是在尋求知識和進步的過程中的人類是堅定而不能被阻止的?？臻g探索將會繼續(xù)，不論我們是否加入它。無論在什么時候，它都是一項重大的冒險，沒有任何一個期望成為世界領袖的國家希望在這場空間競賽中停步。

我們的前輩讓這個國家掀起了工業(yè)革命的第一波浪潮、現(xiàn)代發(fā)明的第一波浪潮、核動力的第一波浪潮。而我們這一代并不希望在即將到來的太空時代的浪潮中倒下。我們要參與其中，我們要領導潮流。為了全世界注視太空、月球和其他行星的人們，我們發(fā)誓我們不會看到太空代表敵意的旗幟，而應該是代表自由與和平的旗幟。我們發(fā)誓我們不會看到太空充滿了大規(guī)模殺傷性武器，而應該是充滿獲取知識的工具。

然而，我國的承諾只有在我國領先(因為我們想要領先)的情況下才能得以履行。簡而言之，我們在科學和工業(yè)上的領導地位，我們對于和平和安全的渴望，我們對于自身和他人的責任，所有這一切要求我們做出努力，為了全人類的利益解決這些謎團，成為世界領先的航天國家。

我們踏上新的航程，為了獲取新的知識，為了贏得新的權(quán)利，獲取并運用權(quán)利，應該是為了全人類的進步?？臻g科學正如核科學以及其他技術(shù)一樣，本身沒有道德可言，它成為善或者惡的力量取決于人類。并且只有當美利堅合眾國取得了卓越的地位，才能幫助決定這片新的領域是和平還是成為戰(zhàn)爭的威脅。我不認為我們應該對敵人濫用太空比對敵人濫用陸地和海洋更加無動于衷，但是我確實認為太空能夠在非戰(zhàn)爭的目的下開發(fā)和利用，再不重復人類曾經(jīng)犯過的錯誤的情況下開發(fā)和利用。

在太空上還沒有競爭、偏見和國家沖突。太空的危險是我們所有人面對的。太空值得全人類盡最大的努力去征服，而且和平合作的機會可能不會重來。但是有些人問，為什么是月球?為什么選擇登月作為我們的目標?他們也許會問為什么我們要登上最高的山。35年前，為什么要飛越大西洋?為什么賴斯大學要與德克薩斯大學比賽?

我們決定登月，我們決定在這個10年間登月，并且做其他的事，不是因為它們簡單，而是因為它們困難，因為這個目標將有益于組織和分配我們的優(yōu)勢能力和技能，因為這個挑戰(zhàn)是我們樂于接受的，因為這個挑戰(zhàn)是我們不愿推遲的，因為這個挑戰(zhàn)是我們打算贏得的，其他的挑戰(zhàn)也是一樣。

正是因為這些理由，我把去年關于提升航天計劃的決定作為我在本屆總統(tǒng)任期內(nèi)最重要的決定之一。

在過去的24小時里，我們看到一些設施已經(jīng)為人類歷史上最復雜的探險而建立起來。我們感受到了土星C-1助推火箭試驗產(chǎn)生的震動和沖擊波，它比把約翰·倫格送入太空的大力神火箭還要強大好幾倍，產(chǎn)生相當于10萬輛汽車的功率。我們看到了5個F-1火箭發(fā)動機，每一個都相當于8個土星火箭發(fā)動機的功率，它們將會用于更先進的土星火箭，在卡納維拉爾角即將興建的48層大樓中組裝起來。這幢建筑寬一個街區(qū)，長度超過這個體育場的兩倍。

在過去的19個月中至少有45顆衛(wèi)星進入了太空，其中大約40顆標著“美國制造”的標記，它們比蘇聯(lián)的衛(wèi)星更加精密，更能為世界人民提供更多的知識。

正在飛向金星的水手號飛船是空間科學史上最復雜的裝置。其精確程度比得上在卡納維拉爾角發(fā)射的一枚火箭擊中這個體育場的40碼線之間。

海事衛(wèi)星讓海上的船只航行更安全，氣象衛(wèi)星給我們對于颶風和風暴空前的警告，它同樣也能用于森林火災和冰山的預警。

我們經(jīng)歷過失敗，但是別人也經(jīng)歷過，即使他們不承認失敗。因此它們可能不為人所知。

很顯然我們落后了，并且在載人航天方面繼續(xù)落后一段時間。但是我們并不打算一直落后，在這個10年間我們將會迎頭趕上。

我們獲得的關于宇宙和環(huán)境的新知識，新的學習、繪圖和觀測技術(shù)，用于工業(yè)、醫(yī)學和家庭的新工具和計算機，所有這些都將促進科學和教育的發(fā)展。像賴斯大學這樣的技術(shù)院校將會因此而得益。

最終，盡管航天事業(yè)本身仍然處于童年，但是，它已經(jīng)催生了很多公司和數(shù)以千計的工作機會。航天和其他相關工業(yè)對投資和有特殊技能的人力產(chǎn)生了新的需求，并且這個城市、這個州、這個地區(qū)將會極大的分享這種增長。西部曾經(jīng)的舊疆域?qū)蔀榭臻g科學的新疆域。休斯敦，你們的休斯敦市，以及它的載人飛行器中心，將會成為一個大的科學與工程共同體的心臟。在接下來的5年中，宇航局期望這個地區(qū)的科學家和工程師數(shù)量加倍，期望把工資和開支提高到每年6千萬美元，期望在工廠和實驗室設施上得到2億美元的投資，期望指導或與這個城市的航天中心簽訂超過10億美元的合同。

很顯然，這將會花去我們一大筆錢。今年的航天預算是1961年1月的3倍，比過去8年的總和還要多。預算現(xiàn)在保持在每年54億美元——一個令人吃驚的數(shù)目，盡管還稍微小于我們在香煙和雪茄上的消費額。航天支出很快就會從平均每人每周40美分上升到50美分的程度，因為我們賦予了這個計劃很高的國家優(yōu)先權(quán)，即使我覺得它稍微有點信念與幻想的意味，因為我們不知道會有什么樣的好處等待著我們。但是我說，我的同胞們，我們應該登上月球，那個距離休斯敦控制中心24萬英里的天體。建造一個超過300英尺高的火箭，和這個橄欖球場的長度相同，由新的合金制成，其中一些我們還沒有發(fā)明出來，能夠承受數(shù)倍于以前的材料所能承受的熱和壓力。裝配的精密程度媲美最精巧的手表，攜帶有用于推進、導航、控制、通訊、食品和維生的全部設備。執(zhí)行一個沒有先例的使命，登上那個未知的天體，然后安全的返回地球，以超過每小時25000英里的速度重返大氣層，產(chǎn)生的溫度大約是太陽溫度的一半，就像今天這里這樣熱——我們要達到全部這些目標，要順利達到這個目標，要在這個10年達到，因此我們必須勇于面對。

我一個人做了所有這些工作，所以我們想讓你們冷靜一會兒。

然而，我認為我們正在付諸實踐，我們必須付出應該付出的。我不認為我們應該浪費金錢，但是我認為我們應該付諸實踐。這些應該在20世紀60年代實現(xiàn)，它有可能在你們還在中學、這所學院和大學的時候?qū)崿F(xiàn)，它將會在臺上諸位任期之內(nèi)實現(xiàn)。但是它應該完成，它應該在這10年末之前完成。

我很高興這所大學在登月計劃中扮演著一個角色，作為美利堅合眾國的國家事業(yè)的一部分。

很多年之前，偉大的英國探險家喬治·馬洛里(他死于攀登珠穆朗瑪峰)被人問到他為什么要攀登珠穆朗瑪峰。他回答說：“因為它就在那兒。”

因此，太空就在那兒，而我們將要登上它，月球和其他行星在那兒，獲得知識與和平的新希望在那兒。因此，當我們啟程的時候，我們祈求上帝保佑這個人類有史以來所從事的最危險和最偉大的冒險。

謝謝。