APOLLO 15 is safely on its way to the moon, and man is on his way to another step across the threshold of the heavens.
Man has always viewed the heavens with humility. But he has viewed them as well with curiosity and with courage and these defy natural law, drawing man beyond gravity, beyond his fears, into his dreams and on to his destiny.
The flight of Apollo 15 is the most ambitious exploration yet undertaken in space. Even as it reflects man's restless quest for his own future, so it also reenacts another of the "deeper rituals of his bones"--not only the compulsion of the human spirit to know where we are going but the primal need in man's blood to know from what we have come.
We hope, by this journey, to know better the origins of earth, the moon, and the other planets. We hope to understand something more of the mysteries of God's great work. And, in this seeking, we hope to understand more of man himself.
To the men of Apollo 15, for all men, I say Godspeed.
Note: On July 25, 1971, the President telephoned the Apollo 15 astronauts to extend good wishes on the eve of the launch.
On July 30, the President telephoned congratulations to the ground and flight crews of Apollo 15 following the moon landing.
Richard Nixon, Statement Following the Successful Launch of Apollo 15. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240419