Sept. 11, 1962 - President Kennedy stopped in Houston, Texas tonight on his two-day tour of four space installations. He was greeted at International Airport by a crowd estimated at 10,000. The crowd later swelled to 25,000, and police estimated that an additional 175,000 lined the route of the President’s motorcade into the city. Mr. Kennedy’s trip began with a stop at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Ala., this morning. He was assured there by Dr. Wernher von Braun that the President’s promise to the American people to have a man on the moon by 1970 would be fulfilled. As Dr. von Braun, director of the center, was showing Mr. Kennedy a small model of the advanced Saturn C-5 rocket, which will be used for the lunar shot, he turned to the President and said: “This is the vehicle which is designed to fulfill your promise to put a man on the moon by the end of this decade.” He hesitated a second, then said: “By God, we’ll do it.” Early in the afternoon, the President and his party, made up of high civilian and military officials, flew to Cape Canaveral, Florida where they inspected the Launch Operation Center. Tomorrow, Mr. Kennedy will give an address at the Rice University Stadium on “Man’s Conquest of Space” then inspect NASA’s manned spacecraft center 20 miles southeast of Houston.
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