In 1962, President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to become the world's greatest space-faring nation in an address at historic Rice Stadium. A plaque commemorating this speech, which helped plant the seed for our nation's space program, is located just outside the northeast gate of the stadium, near a next-generation moon tree which resulted from a seed flown around the moon by Apollo 14 Astronaut Stuart Roosa.
As part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the plaque and tree were dedicated on Yuri's Night in 2019 by Rice alumnus Jim Bridenstine '98, then the NASA Administrator.