Niels-Arne Hansen
“There’s Nothing More Important” – John F. Kennedy og beslutningen om en bemandet månelanding 1961

- English summary

In his campaign to be president of the U.S., John F. Kennedy criticized Eisenhower for lagging behind the USSR in space achievements. When Kennedy became president, NASA approached him for the FY 62 budget, and Kennedy approved money for the development of large boosters, but declined to give money for a manned moon landing. On April 12^th 1961 Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter space and orbit the earth, and things changed for Kennedy. By April 20^th he asked Vice-president Johnson to determine how the US could catch up with the Soviets. Johnson gathered information from NASA (and director James Webb), Department of Defence and others. The conclusion was that a manned mission to the moon before the decade was out was both possible and spectacular enough. Kennedy announced the decision to do just that in a speech on “urgent national needs” May 25^th 1961. This article concludes that Kennedy made the decision for a number of reasons: 1) to reclaim lost national prestige in the space area, 2) because it was part of The Cold War politics and 3) because Kennedy and his administration acted technocratically and used development of technology to solve national problems of prestige.