The Final Flight of the Space Shuttle Program

Floor Speech

Mr. WEST. Mr. Speaker, today we close another chapter in the history book of manned space flight. Today Americans around the Nation watched the final launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, a journey that began 30 years ago with the first flight of Space Shuttle Columbia.

For 135 times the Nation has turned their eyes to the State of Florida to watch the solid rocket boosters ignite and lift the Space Shuttle through the bounds of our Earth's atmosphere. Each mission of the Space Shuttles' primary goal was to continue to push the bounds of space exploration. With each mission the United States achieved another milestone of expanding man's frontier in space earning the respect and admiration of the world.

The State of Florida has been the epicenter for manned exploration of space. Over the last 50 years from Gemini, to Apollo, to the Space Shuttles, hundreds of thousands of Floridians have contributed their talents, energy and knowledge to explore space. Some have dedicated their lives to the exploration of space.

Today I would like to recognize the men and women over the last 30 years who worked on the Space Shuttle program. While the names of the astronauts will be recorded in the history books, we must also note the thousands of individuals who worked behind the scenes to make history by challenging the final frontier.

I am concerned about losing the workforce that has dedicated their knowledge to the exploration of our universe. I believe that we could lose a competitive and innovative edge that we maintain at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Soon the Space Shuttle Fleet will be shipped off to museums around the country and will become items that school children will visit to see America's past glories in space. These children will see these space exploration vehicles, then look towards the stars sparking their imagination to ask the question "what lies beyond?'' However, when the Space Shuttle Atlantis lands in the next several days for the first time in my entire 50 years on Earth we will not have a vehicle or a plan to send humans from our planet into space.

The space program is essential to the State of Florida. Thousands of the brightest scientific minds reside in the area surrounding the Kennedy Space Center and billions of dollars of economic activity are generated in the States of Texas, California and my home State of Florida. In addition, since the Mercury Program, the Space Program has placed our Nation on the cutting edge of innovation.

President John F. Kennedy challenged our Nation to land a man of the Moon. In the space race with the Soviet Union, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin placed an American flag on the lunar surface in 1969. Now the former Soviet Union is our taxi cab ride to the International Space Station at a cost of approximately $63 million a seat. Further, China is now building their ability to be the leaders in space exploration. This is unacceptable and the antithesis of American exceptionalism.

While we have had failures in the space program along the way, such as Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia, when some individuals felt we should stop manned space flight after the Challenger accident, President Ronald Reagan stated: "We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.''

I am concerned that the United States has no plans for human exploration capability to go beyond Earth's orbit for an indeterminate time into the future. Space will always be challenging and dangerous, but we are Americans and we have always met our challenges and faced danger. And with regard to space we must continue the journey, focus on the stars, reach for the heavens, and be a leader in space exploration in the 21st century.

Americans, by our nature, do not accept being in second place. I am committed to ensuring that one day we again will be the leaders in manned space exploration.

Source