[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 22 (Friday, February 23, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S1303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ASTRONAUT RICHARD SEARFOSS

 Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate 
Astronaut Richard Searfoss, a Portsmouth, NH, native, who will pilot 
the space shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to leave Cape Canaveral, FL, in 
March. This is an exceptional honor for an astronaut, and everyone in 
his home State of New Hampshire is very proud of his accomplishment.
  Richard attended Portsmouth High School and as a student scored a 
perfect 1,600 on his scholastic aptitude test. He was also the keynote 
speaker at the Portsmouth High School graduation ceremony for the class 
of 1994. Later, Richard on a National Science Foundation Fellowship in 
1979 earned a master of science degree in aeronautics from the 
California Institute of Technology. The people of Portsmouth recognize 
Richard as an outstanding role model for all of his hard work and 
determination in becoming an exemplary astronaut.
  Richard will pilot the 9-day Atlantis mission that will allow the 
five astronauts on board to hook up with the Russian space station, 
Mir, and drop off Astronaut Shannon Lucid. Shannon will spend 4 months 
aboard the manned space station, located about 200 nautical miles from 
Earth. Atlantis will dock at the space station for 5 days and then 
return to Earth with one of the three other astronauts who manned the 
station. The flight will also include a spacewalk.
  This mission is not the first time Richard has been in space. As a 
test pilot in the October 1993 space mission, Richard was one of seven 
crew members to participate in a 2-week life sciences mission on the 
space shuttle Columbia. I had the opportunity to meet Richard in 
February 1994, and his commitment to the space program and to America 
was heartening.
  New Hampshire is very proud of Richard's leadership in the NASA space 
program and wish him continued success in the future. We are honored to 
have him represent us in the final frontier.

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