Kennedy Vision Still Inspires Space Cooperation on ISS Today - Senior NASA Official

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The vision of the late US President John F. Kennedy about space exploration as an inspiring crusade to unite the peoples of the world is still being fulfilled on the International Space Station (ISS) today, NASA Deputy Administrator Pamela Melrose told a ceremony commemorated to Kennedy's Moon Mission speech on Monday.

"Space is a beacon for international collaboration and we are seeing that on the International Space Station," Melroy, one of only two women ever to have commanded a space shuttle mission, said in her remarks at Rice University in Texas.

Melroy's speech was part of a commemorative event to honor the 60th anniversary of President Kennedy's speech there on September 12, 1962 when he pledged to land a US astronaut on the Moon by the end of that decade.

"Space remains a place where we can continue to always have conversations with each other and work together towards a common goal even when things are really tense here on earth," Melroy said.

In his 1962 speech at Rice, Kennedy presented a vision of human global cooperation in space to foster peace on earth, Melroy added.