Read the background information.
In 1961, President Kennedy asked Congress to commit to landing an astronaut on the moon. On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Kennedy Space Center, traveling to the moon. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon.
Read the excerpt from a fictional journal entry.
July 21, 1969
I can remember back to my boyhood, growing up in the 1930s and looking up at the moon in the night sky. Traveling there was the stuff of science fiction novels: a dream. But tonight, I watched my daughter looking up at that same moon from her bedroom window. "I’m going to go there one day, Dad,” she said. If I had spoken the same words to my father when I was 12, he would have smiled and agreed, but with that "look” that parents get when they know they’re agreeing to the impossible. But today, I was able to say to my daughter, "You absolutely can,” without any look but one of sincerity.
How does historical context affect the speaker’s perspective?
The moon landing allowed him to react positively to his daughter’s statement.
Growing up in the 1930s caused him to react negatively to his daughter’s statement.
The moon landing gave him a chance to have an open conversation with his daughter.
Growing up in the 1930s made him doubt his daughter’s dreams.