Sixty years ago, this JFK speech launched America's race to the moon

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced America's intention to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Sixty years later, that speech remains an important part of space history.

Just five months into his presidency, he was reeling from two political blows: the first, on April 12, when the Soviets sent cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space -- getting a human into orbit before the Americans -- and the second, less than a week later, with the botched Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. On the ropes, the Kennedy administration needed a win. So, the president stood and delivered a 46-minute, nearly 6,000-word speech that required 81 printed pages for him to read in a time before teleprompters.