Answer:
The Soviet Union had settled in the space race and Kennedy, in his speech, concluded that the US should invest in this race and not invest in anything else.
Explanation:
Kennedy made his speech before a special joint session of Congress just four months after he took office as President. Filled with political initiatives (the moon's last and most dramatic challenge), the speech was an attempt to put his presidency on track, after a rather bumpy start.
In the short time that Kennedy was in the Presidency, the United States had already suffered two major defeats in the Cold War for the USSR. First, on April 12, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to reach Space, making a full Earth orbit during a 108-minute mission. (NASA successfully launched Alan Shepard on May 5, but his 15-minute flight only arrived Suborbital Space.)
Kennedy sentiu que ele e a nação tinham de responder aos soviéticos para demonstrar a superioridade tecnológica americana e a liderança internacional. Ele acreditava que os Estados Unidos precisavam de uma grande conquista no espaço.
