The Other Things

John F Kennedy created the idea of a “moonshot goal” when he gave a speech at Rice University in 1962. Here’s the most pertinent line:

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 we intend to win, and the others, too.

Amazingly enough, human beings did set foot on the Moon just 7 years later, and they returned safely to the Earth.

Back to Kennedy’s words for a sec:

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…

Clearly, this is a moment intended to inspire a nation, but what were those other hard things Kennedy was talking about? What sorts of “other things” could be comparable to landing on the Moon?

Let’s think about that today.

Photo by History i…