[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE SPACE PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Weldon) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak out on 
Space Day, which is actually celebrated May 21, it was yesterday, a day 
set aside to celebrate the anniversary of John F. Kennedy's bold 
challenge to land a man on the moon. The space program, as we all know, 
has matured tremendously. We now have the space shuttle program, which 
has been a tremendous success, being able to go up and return with a 
crew and do all kinds of very sophisticated things while on orbit, such 
as repair the Hubble telescope, and soon it will be launching the 
elements of the space station.
  We have all heard about the tremendous scientific breakthroughs that 
have been the fruit of our space program. I know I, as a physician, saw 
that on a daily basis when I was practicing medicine prior to being 
elected to the House. Some of the technology from the space program is 
used on a daily basis, such as the imaging technology with MRI scanning 
and CAT scanning, as well as a lot of the materials science used in 
cardiac catheterization and prosthetic hips. But today I rise to talk 
about what I think may prove to be ultimately in the end one of the 
greatest breakthroughs that has benefited people here on Earth from our 
space program, and to talk about that I need to talk about a product 
made by a company in my district. It is called Quick Boost, and I have 
a can of that in my hand right here.
  You put this stuff in your air conditioning unit in your car and it 
will cause your air conditioning unit to run about 10 to 20 percent 
more efficiently. Now, what is really interesting is they have a 
version of this that they will be releasing on the market very soon 
that will go in your home air conditioning unit that will cause your 
home air conditioning unit to run 10 to 20 percent more efficiently.
  Why am I talking about this product? This product is a spin-off of 
the space program. Yes, it was NASA who had the need to develop more 
efficient air conditioning units on spacecraft that caused the 
technology to be developed that has gone ultimately into this product. 
And this product has the potential to cause the consumption of 
electricity to decline in the United States. It has the potential to 
allow us to save billions of dollars on electricity costs as well as 
reduce our demands for foreign oil, and probably what is more important 
is that families all across America, particularly those living in the 
South that run air conditioning units all year round, may be able to 
save up to as much as $20 a month, $2250 a year, which is more than 
equal to their tax portion of what is going to fund our space program.

                              {time}  1600

  Our space program is having a profound effect on our culture, on our 
society, and there is probably no better example than this product 
called Quick Boost made by a company in my district, Mainstream 
Engineering.
  So for those people in this House of Representatives who frequently 
get up and claim that we should not be spending this money on our space 
program and that we should be applying it to education or health care 
or better roads and bridges, all of which are very worthwhile things, I 
challenge them to stop and think and look at all of the benefits that 
have accrued to us here on earth from our space program: whether it is 
the medical technology, whether it is through the better prediction of 
weather, or, yes, right down to something like this, a product that is 
going to decrease our reliance on foreign oil, that is going to 
decrease the consumption of electricity.
  It will actually be good for the environment, because we will be 
burning less fossil fuels; and, indeed, it will help families all 
across this country to save a little bit of money each year, money that 
they can better use for their children's education, money that they can 
better use for braces for the kids or new tires for the car.
  So the space program is more than just sending rockets up to space, 
it is more than just motivating our kids in science and technology, it 
is more than just exploring the new frontiers. It is about helping us 
here on earth. It is about learning ways to do things better.
  I would encourage all my colleagues who have opposed funding for the 
space program to look at this breakthrough, to look at this technology 
and the billions and billions and billions of dollars of savings that 
it will cause our Nation in the years ahead and to rethink their 
position on the space program.
  I encourage all of my colleagues to vote to increase NASA's budget, 
because these are the kinds of breakthroughs that not only will help 
the United States, they as well have the ability to help all of mankind 
and all people throughout the world.

                          ____________________