In these opening remarks to a symposium reflecting on forty years of U.S. Human Spaceflight, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, reviews the impact that Alan Shepard had on him personally, to NASA, and to the whole idea of manned spaceflight. Mr Goldin cites Shepard as an example of the past and future of manned spaceflight

Goldin, Daniel S.

NASA Technical Reports Server

Opening Remarks—Daniel S. Goldin
19
22785-looking back book final 2  11/20/02  1:13 PM  Page 19
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20060020068 2019-08-29T21:48:16+00:00Z
20
Looking Backward, Looking Forward
Daniel S. Goldin with a model of the Mars Pathfinder’s Sojourner rover.
22785-looking back book final 2  11/20/02  1:13 PM  Page 20
21
1. Remarks at the presentation of NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal to astronaut Alan
B. Shepard on 8 May 1961. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F.
Kennedy, 1961 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1962), p. 366.
Opening Remarks—Daniel S. Goldin
What a wonderful day it is. We are taking the opportunity this morn-
ing to reflect on what it has meant since 1961 to be a spacefaring
nation. We are also looking forward to the next forty years of human
adventure in space and what it might bring us as a civilization.
While the specifics of what will unfold during the first part
of the twenty-first century are not certain—and that’s the wonder
of the space program—I can say with certainty that the possibilities
are boundless. Accordingly, I am both excited about where we
have been and where we are going.
Alan Shepard, of course, had become the first American to
fly into space during a 15-minute suborbital flight on 5 May 1961,
riding a Redstone booster in his Freedom 7 spacecraft. At the
ceremony that followed, President Kennedy recognized the courage
and sacrifice of all those involved in America’s first human
spaceflight. The President commented that Shepard’s success as
the first United States astronaut was an outstanding contribution
to the advancement of human knowledge, space technology, and
a demonstration of man’s capabilities in suborbital flight.
President Kennedy also juxtaposed the very public flight of
Alan Shepard with the secrecy of our rival at the time, the Soviet
Union: “I also want to pay cognizance to the fact that this flight
was made out in the open with all the possibilities of failure,
which have been damaging to our country’s prestige. Because
great risks were taken in that regard, it seems to me that we have
some right to claim that this open society of ours, which risked
much, gained much.”1
22785-looking back book final 2  11/20/02  1:13 PM  Page 21
22
President Kennedy’s comments about the risks and rewards of
spaceflight are just as applicable today as they were on 8 May 1961.
In forty years of human spaceflight, we have achieved enormous
successes, gained astounding knowledge about our universe and our
place in it, and brought untold benefits to the people of the world.
We have learned to survive in the incredibly hostile environ-
ment of space. We have landed on the Moon. We have developed a
remarkable vehicle, the Space Shuttle, which enables Americans to
travel to and from Earth orbit much more readily than any previous
launch technology, and we will have a vehicle that will take us not
just to low-Earth orbit, but, eventually, we will develop a vehicle
to take us out of Earth orbit.
I’m especially pleased to recognize the leadership of Alan
Shepard as the first Mercury 7 astronaut to fly to space. He was
truly an American hero, and I’m proud to have known him. Not
long after I arrived at NASA, Alan met me to tell me that what we
were doing at NASA was very important and that he personally
wanted to make himself available. He said that he’d do anything that
I asked to help accomplish the NASA mission. If I wanted him to
testify before Congress, or meet with senior officials, or speak to
schoolchildren, or take a trip across the world, he would be
happy to do it. 
He was an individual who had been the first American to fly
in space, as well as an individual who had walked on the Moon. He
offered to carry the message of the importance of human space-
flight to the masses because he believed in it so deeply, and he
believed in this great nation of ours. Alan Shepard believed that
NASA is a representation of the best that America has to offer.
Looking Backward, Looking Forward
22785-looking back book final 2  11/20/02  1:13 PM  Page 22
23
He was enthusiastic about this fact and always shared it at every
opportunity. He left us a legacy of excellence that is unmatched. 
We need more heroes like Alan Shepard and the other won-
derful astronauts who are opening up the cosmos. They are the
modern descendants of Lewis and Clark, Richard Byrd, and
Charles Lindbergh. They set their sights on the distant horizon
of space and the journey to unknown places, bringing back
knowledge and understanding. They inspire us with their perse-
verance. They lead us, as Americans, to a loftier place, and Alan
was the first American there. 
In some respects, we have come a long way since Alan Shepard
flew the tiny Freedom 7 space capsule forty years ago, but, in other
ways, we have not yet journeyed so far. Alan would have been the
first to say that while the technology has changed, the curiosity of the
human mind and the courage of the human heart remain the same.
Those who venture forth into space are a breed apart. Alan
Shepard and every other astronaut should not be thought of simply
as passengers or visitors in space. They are blazing a pioneering
trail that will be followed by others once they have made the way
safe. When we make the way safe, we are going to do great things.
As I was preparing these remarks, I thought about the pos-
sibilities. We’ve been locked in Earth orbit for too long, but we
are going to break out. There’s no doubt in my mind. The seeds
are there. This is the anniversary of NASA’s forty years of human
space exploration, and it represents an important crossroad. As
we celebrate it today, we continue to move toward a visionary goal.
In our quest to make what is envisioned real, we test, we
build, we launch, we learn, and we fail. Then we start again and
Opening Remarks—Daniel S. Goldin
22785-looking back book final 2  11/20/02  1:13 PM  Page 23
24
never ever worry about the criticism of failure—because in failure
we learn, and we start the cycle again.
So we are not only celebrating the past today, but also
drawing a demarcation point from which to envision the future
yet more wondrous. Let us work together to make it happen. Let
us burn into our brains that this civilization is not condemned to
live on only one planet. 
Let’s burn it into our brains that in our lifetimes we will
extend the reach of this human species onto other planets and to
other bodies in our solar system. Let’s build the robots that will
leave our solar system to go to other stars and ultimately be fol-
lowed by people.
I wish that Alan Shepard could have been here with us
today. We lost a true pioneer when he passed on in 1998. He
liked to say of space exploration, “I know it can be done,” “it’s
important for it to be done,” and “I want to do it.” His spirit
lives on in that quest for our future in space. 
I would like to close by dedicating this activity on the past,
present, and future of U.S. human spaceflight to the memory of
Alan Shepard, the first American hero of the space age and my
personal hero. Thank you very much.
Looking Backward, Looking Forward
22785-looking back book final 2  11/20/02  1:13 PM  Page 24


Opening Remarks

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

NASA Technical Reports Server