[applause]
Thank you so much.
My good grief, I did not expect that. [laughter]
So nice to be here...
At age 88, you know, it's nice to be anywhere... [laughter]
[applause]
On September 16th, 1969 I was privileged to address a joint session of Congress.
Believe that or not.
For me...for me that date marked the end of Apollo 11 and it closed an extraordinary chapter
in my life.
Now 60 years later to me those words still seem true.Mr President, Members of Congress
and distinguished guests, one of the many things I have very much enjoyed about working
for the Space Agency and the Air Force is that they have always given me free reign
even to the extent of addressing this most Augustus assemblies without coaching, without
putting any words into my mouth, and therefore my brief remarks are simply those of a free
citizen living in a free country and expressing free thoughts that are purely my own.
Many years... [applause] thank you.
Many years before there was a space program, my father had a favorite quotation.
He who would bring back the wealth of the Indies must take the wealth of the Indies
with him, and this we have done.
We have taken to the Moon, the wealth of this nation, the vision of its political leaders,
the intelligence of its scientists, the dedication of its engineers, the careful craftsmanship
of its workers and the enthusiastic support of its people, and we brought back rocks.
I think that is a fair trade for just as the... for just as the Rosetta stone rebuild the
language of ancient Egypt, so may these rocks unlock the mystery of the origin of the moon,
of our earth, and even of our solar system.
During the flight of Apollo 11 and the constant sunlight between the Earth and the Moon, it
was necessary for us to control the temperature of our machine in a, by a slow rotation.
Not unlike that of a chicken on a barbecue spit. As we turned, the Earth and the Moon
alternately appeared in our windows and we had our choice, we could look toward the moon,
toward Mars, toward our future in space, toward the new Indies.
Or we could look back toward the earth, our home with its problems born over more than
a millennium of human occupancy.
We looked both ways, we saw both and I think that is what our nation must do.
We can ignore neither the wealth of the Indies, nor the realities or the immediate needs of
our cities, our citizens, our civics.
We cannot launch our planetary probes from a springboard of poverty, discrimination,
or unrest...but
neither can we wait until each and every terrestrial problem has been solved.
Such logic 200 years ago, would have prevented expansion westward past the Appalachian Mountains,
for assuredly the Eastern seaboard was beset by problems of great urgency than as it is
today.
Man has always gone where he will be able to go.
It's that simple.
He will continue pushing back his frontier no matter how far it may carry him from his
Homeland.
Someday in the not too distant future, when I listen to an earthling step out onto the
surface of Mars or even some other planet, just as I listened to Neil step out onto the
surface of the Moon, I hope I hear him say, I come from the United States of America.