Honoring The Role Of American Workers In Putting Man On The Moon

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISRAEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the key role American workers played in putting man on the moon and to honor their respective contributions to mankind.

On September 12, 1962 President John F. Kennedy challenged America to ``go to the moon in this decade ..... not because it is easy but because it is hard.'' Long Islanders heard this call, rolled up their sleeves and made that dream a reality. I am proud of the Long Islanders who produced the Grumman-built Lunar Module nicknamed ``the Eagle'' which achieved its rightful fame when astronaut Neil Armstrong announced to the world that, ``the Eagle has landed.''

America landed on the moon on July 20, 1969 and the men and women of Long Island got us there.

July 2009 is the 40th anniversary of mankind landing on the moon, an eternal tribute to America's engineering genius that sits some 235,000 miles away on the lunar surface. The Grumman-built Lunar Module is a permanent symbol of the collective efforts of the hard-working American men and women who met President Kennedy's call to achieve the impossible.

During the height of the Cold War, a significant portion of the Nation's scientific and technological genius was turned not to weapons but to space exploration.

Forty years later, we honor the ingenuity and tenacity of all Americans that answered President Kennedy's call to reach to the heavens and thank them for their historic contributions to mankind.

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