Historical Context
On what date and in what city was this speech given?
What are September 12, 1962, and Houston, Texas?
According to the speech, what is the relationship between knowledge and ignorance?
What is that as knowledge increases, ignorance unfolds?
What is the ultimate goal of the nation's space effort?
What is to reach the stars?
What is one of the two emotions mentioned at the beginning of the speech as a result of progress?
What are hope or fear?
What is the name of the university where this speech was given?
hat is Rice University?
The speech's official title is "Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort." What is the unofficial name it is most famous for?
What is the "We choose to go to the Moon" speech?
The speech states that the number of scientists in the U.S. is doing what every 12 years?
What is doubling?
The speech says that the exploration of space will go ahead whether the U.S. joins in or not. What is the one thing no leading nation can afford to do?
What is to stay behind in the race for space?
The speech uses a specific type of figurative language when it describes a historical time span of 50,000 years being "condensed" into a "half-century." What rhetorical device is this?
What is a metaphor or an analogy?
How many years of recorded human history does the speech mention?
What is 50,000 years?
What global event, mentioned in the speech, was the backdrop for the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union?
What is the Cold War?
When did "advanced man" learn to use animal skins to cover themselves, according to the condensed history?
What is at the end of the first 40 years of a 50-year span of human history?
Why does the speech say the U.S. chose to go to the Moon?
What is not because it is easy, but because it is hard?
The speech says, "This is a breathtaking pace... and such a pace cannot help but create new ills." What rhetorical device is being used here to set up a contrast?
What is a paradox or antithesis?
How many years did the speaker condense 50,000 years of recorded history into?
What is 50 years?
What are the two historical events mentioned that happened just last week?
What are the development of penicillin, television, and nuclear power, and the launch of America's new spacecraft?
According to the speech, what historical invention was made "less than two months ago" within the 50-year span of human history?
What is the steam engine?
The speech compares space to what other type of vast, unknown environment?
What is the sea or ocean?
How does the speaker appeal to the audience's sense of history and destiny in the sentence, "This country was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them"?
What is an appeal to ethos or patriotism?
How many times faster is the U.S. scientific manpower growing than the population as a whole?
What is more than three times?
According to the speech, what is the U.S. doing in the "race for space" compared to other nations?
What is being behind, but not intending to stay behind?
The speech describes a "breathtaking pace." It also states that this pace can create new ills. What is one of these ills?
What are new ignorance, new problems, or new dangers?
According to the speech, what two things are to be won and used for the progress of all people?
What are new knowledge and new rights?
When the speaker says that "penicillin and television and nuclear power" were developed only last week, he is using what rhetorical device to make the timeline of human progress seem incredibly short?
What is hyperbole or exaggeration?
How long did it take for man to learn how to use the steam engine after learning to use wheels and a cart?
What is two months?