User talk:71.3.66.196

Abe Silverstein helped plan NASA & was NASA's 1st Dir. of Space Flight Programs
In that role, Silverstein planned the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. He was in charge of selecting the Mercury 7 Astronauts. He got NASA to adopt liquid hydrogen rocket engines which made it possible to go to the Moon. He told President Kennedy that we could go to the Moon by the end of the decade. 4 days later, Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress to say, "..we shall go to the Moon by the end of the decade" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_Silverstein