[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 42 (Friday, April 3, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S3232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO RICHARD A. SEARFOSS, RICHARD M. LINNEHAN AND JAY CLARK 
                                 BUCKEY

 Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I rise today to 
congratulate Commander Richard A. Searfoss, mission specialist Richard 
M. Linnehan and payload specialist Jay Clark Buckey for their 
participation in the April 16, 1998, Neurolab mission STS-90. These men 
are on the forefront of science, bravely pioneering the new frontier of 
space in an effort to investigate the effects of weightlessness on the 
brain, central nervous system, and sensory organs.
  After graduating from Portsmouth Senior High School in New Hampshire, 
Rick Searfoss attended the United States Air Force Academy where he was 
awarded the Harmon, Fairchild, Price and Tober Awards as the top 
overall, academic, engineering and aeronautical engineering graduate in 
the Class of 1978. When Commander Searfoss was selected for the 
astronaut program, he was a flight instructor at the U.S. Naval Test 
Pilot School where he was named the Tactical Air Command F-111 
Instructor Pilot of the Year in 1985. Having logged over 4200 hours 
flying time in 56 different types of aircraft, there can be no doubt 
about Commander Searfoss' courage or ability.
  Richard M. Linnehan, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, 
is a distinguished astronaut and veterinarian. After entering into 
private veterinary practice and further study of animal medicine and 
comparative pathology, Dr. Linnehan was commissioned as a Captain in 
the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. He served as chief clinical 
veterinarian for the Navy's Marine Mammal Project at the Naval Ocean 
Systems Center in San Diego. Dr. Linnehan has been at the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since 1992, where he has 
worked in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and in the 
Astronaut Office Mission Development Branch. He was a member of the 
international crew of the STS-78 mission in 1996, the longest space 
shuttle flight to date.
  Jay Clark Buckey, currently a NASA payload specialist and Associate 
Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New 
Hampshire, has a distinguished record in aerospace medicine. Dr. Buckey 
has over twenty publications to his credit in the areas of space 
physiology, cardiovascular regulation and echocardiographic techniques. 
He is a former executive board member of the American Society for 
Gravitational and Space Biology, as well as a member of the Aerospace 
Medicine Association and American College of Physicians. His 
accomplishments at NASA include performing as co-investigator and 
project manager for the Spacelab Life Sciences-1 experiment 
``Cardiovascular Adaptation to Zero-Gravity,'' for which he received 
two NASA Certificates of Recognition for software developed.
  WMUR-TV of Manchester and the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium of 
Concord are cooperating to offer a live interactive question-and-answer 
session with the New Hampshire astronauts on April 24, 1998, that will 
be shown in the Planetarium and relayed to students in the astronauts' 
hometowns of Portsmouth, Pelham and Hanover. Students will beam 
questions up to the astronauts and have the answers beamed back to 
them, giving the students a window into life aboard the space shuttle 
and an opportunity to speak with real live heroes.
  Risking their own lives to determine the effects of space travel, 
these men exhibit bravery that should inspire us all. Mr. President, I 
want to congratulate Commander Richard A. Searfoss, mission specialist 
Richard M. Linnehan, and payload specialist Jay Clark Buckey for their 
outstanding work. I am proud to represent them in the U.S. 
Senate.

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