How President Kennedy’s Vision Drove Apollo 11’s Triumph

On July 24, the country celebrates the successful conclusion of the Apollo 11 lunar mission; perhaps the most significant technological triumph in American history. You don’t need to be a senior citizen to recognize its relevance.

The Apollo 11 triumph reflects the exceptional contributions of a disparate group of scientists, engineers, technicians, astronauts and test pilots. But it was very much born of the bold, clear vision of a young president, and of the extraordinary national commitment that vision generated. And there’s a lesson in that for today’s organizational leaders.

Early in the John F. Kennedy presidency, the country’s global prestige had been buffeted by the unanticipated achievements of the Soviet space program, which far outpaced similar efforts of the United States. Soviet spacecrafts were orbiting the earth while American rockets were exploding on the launch pad. The “space gap” became an unexpected yet powerful weapon in the Cold War.

In turn, President Kennedy viewed national leadership in space as critical to preserving the country’s world leadership position. This, he felt, could be achieved by pursuing aggressive goals for space exploration. To that end, in a bold address to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, he called for a national commitment “to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” (Note Kennedy’s reference to both “landing” and “returning”).

In this call before Congress, he pulled no punches, articulating both the promise and the “heavy burden” associated with his challenge.

No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.

Kennedy further galvanized public support for this vision with his famous September 12, 1962 speech at Rice University in Houston:

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.

Of course, Kennedy did not live to see the success of Apollo 11. Yet his simple, clear and stirring vision for the nation was strong enough to sustain the public commitment and support the scientific effort through the challenges and tragedies of the intervening years. To address the continuing technical barriers of space flight. To confront the loss of confidence from a great tragedy ‒ the Apollo 1 fire. To overcome the significant distractions of an unpopular foreign war and growing national racial strife.

Indeed, Apollo 11 returned safely to earth on July 24, 1969; “in this decade”, just as Kennedy had called for. Simply amazing.

All of this is a reminder that words do indeed matter. That a thoughtful purpose can breed meaningful commitment. And that a clearly articulated vision can motivate an organization, just as a nation, to pursue and achieve noble goals.

With that, the elements of vision-making become more apparent: it’s the ability of leadership to succinctly express where the organization needs to go in the future, the reasons why it needs to go in that direction, how it expects to reach the specific destination, the plan for the organization when it gets there, and why the effort will ultimately be worth it.

Easier said than done, of course. But President Kennedy’s skill in formulating, presenting and advocating for his space exploration goals made it easier for the public to understand and support them. More broadly, it helped them become more acquainted with the young president, and the principles for which he stood.

That’s the force of an effective vision; a force should be attractive to all leaders ‒ no matter the industry sector.