[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 89 (Tuesday, July 12, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND 
             INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1995

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                               speech of

                            HON. JOE BARTON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 29, 1994

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4624) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and 
     Housing and Urban Development, and for sundry independent 
     agencies, boards, commissions, corporations, and the offices 
     for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1995, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the 
space station Alpha. Space station Alpha will inspire yet another 
generation of Americans to become explorers in the fields of new 
science, engineering, and medicine.
  Alpha is critical to maintaining U.S. leadership in space and global 
competitiveness, and to serve as a driving force for emerging 
technologies. This space station will permit engineers and scientists 
to accelerate breakthroughs in technology and engineering that will 
have immediate, practical applications for life on Earth.
  Alpha's facilities, with near absence of gravity, will permit 
researchers to study materials that could not exist and processes that 
could not take place in full Earth gravity. These materials include 
polymers for everything from paint to contact lenses, semiconductors 
for high-speed computers and electronics, and high-temperature 
superconductors for efficiency in electrical devices.
  Experimental research in the near absence of gravity produces new 
insights into industrial processes in materials that cannot be 
replicated on Earth and contribute to increased understanding of fluid 
physics and combustion. A better understanding of the combustion 
process can lead to energy conservation on Earth. As small as a 2-
percent increase in burner efficiency for heaters would save the United 
States $8 billion per year.
  In addition, space science is a catalyst for academic achievement. It 
is important to note that trends of U.S. college students majoring in 
science and engineering track closely with the funding trends of the 
U.S. space program. Teachers and communities across the Nation are 
already using space station concepts in the classroom, and in the 
future will have experiments on Alpha. These experiments will be 
conducted from their classrooms on the ground. Students will transmit 
and receive data, manipulate equipment remotely, and evaluate the 
experiments through interpretation of the data.
  Support for the space station Alpha is important to America's future.

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