National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the NASA Authorization Act, H.R. 6063. I would like to salute Chairman BART GORDON and Ranking Member RALPH HALL and Subcommittee Chairman Udall and Ranking Member Feeney.

They have done a terrific job this year. There has been no better example of bipartisan cooperation and a spirit of goodwill that I have ever found in this Congress than what I have found in these last 2 years on this committee. I salute all those who are involved, and I am very proud to be part of this team.

Space-based assets have become such a part of our way of life that quite often they are taken for granted. Just recently, when we experienced hurricanes and noted the damage that was done by these great natural catastrophes, sometimes people forget how much worse it would have been had we not been tracking these hurricanes as they headed towards populated areas.

We were able to save many thousands of lives and save many billions of dollars in damage because we have had space-based assets that permitted us to be able to make that contribution to our fellow human beings, saving their lives and property in the face of an oncoming storm by giving them adequate warning.

We also know that today our telephone calls are cheap, and they are clear. But this is dramatically different than what it was before we had space-based assets up there taking care of our communications.

The fact is that space-based assets have permitted people to take time and to communicate with their loved ones. We talk about our country when we talk about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, talking to your grandfather, or letting your children talk to their grandparents on the phone.

When I was a kid, it cost maybe $5 or $6, and you could barely hear on the phone. You could barely hear. It was so expensive, you called once a month at the most. Now people can talk to their loved ones. Space-based assets have done this, have increased our happiness, our level of happiness in this world.

Again, those communications satellites also have brought down the cost of entertainment, as we know. The fact is, the competition the space-based assets have given to the cable industry have brought down that cost.

GPS guides us to our locations, whether we are talking about jets or talking about automobiles, or even where farmers will plant their crops. Space-based assets are making such a difference in our lives.

Of course, space-based assets are making America much safer. When we meet adversaries overseas, our people have that advantage. It's keeping us free, it's keeping us safe.

Of course, when you talk about safety, I have been particularly interested in ensuring that we pay attention to the potential threat posed by near-Earth objects. NASA, of course, has tracked and catalogued over 90 percent of those objects in space that could destroy the human race, and we are very grateful for that job. But that leaves, of course, thousands of space objects that could cause horrendous damage and loss of life that still need to be tracked.

This bill authorizes $2 million to keep the Arecibo telescope functioning. That Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico is essential to this element of safety that we are providing by tracking near-Earth objects.

As I say, without the telescope, there may be, perhaps, something, if we learned early enough that we could deflect that might come here and kill millions of people. We are paying attention to this. This NASA authorization takes a step in the right direction there in keeping the Arecibo telescope alive.

We should be cooperating in space. All of these things cost money, and other countries have benefited by our research. We need to cooperate with Europe, Japan, Russia, and other countries to make sure that we can accomplish what we can do more by joining them than if we were alone in this.

However, that cooperation does not mean that we should not continue to be the leaders in space activity. We will no longer be the leading power on the Earth unless we are the leading power in space.

This is the 50th anniversary of NASA, and it is fitting that we set our sights on continuing to be the world's leading power in space. We can lead humankind into a better era. We have done that in the cause of human freedom. We will do that in the cause of technology and human development.

I stand here with pride and join my colleagues. I salute them for all the hard work they have done and in asking my colleagues to join me in authorizing NASA in this legislation.

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