We went to the Moon
Here’s a nice article from the Smithsonian about what led to the US landing on the Moon 50 years ago. It points out that when JFK gave his speech about going to the Moon NASA didn’t have the knowledge or equipment to do it at that point, and many people at the time didn’t want to spend the money to go to the Moon. It also points out how NASA’s use of computers ushered in the digital age, and that Kennedy mostly wanted to beat the Russians — it was the next president, LBJ, who was a real proponent of the program.