[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 48 (Thursday, April 25, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1669-H1670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETE CONRAD AWARDS BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Charles Pete 
Conrad Astronomy Award Act. This act is intended to encourage amateur 
astronomers to discover new and attract previously identified astroids 
and other heavenly bodies, particularly those that threaten a close 
approach to the Earth. This act is named after the legendary pilot, 
astronomer and space entrepreneur, Pete Conrad, who I was honored to 
know. He was a constituent of mine as well. Unfortunately, he passed 
away after a tragic motorcycle accident just last year. Charles Pete 
Conrad made history and today in his honor and in his memory I am 
introducing a bill that could help protect the United States of America 
and, yes, the entire world.
  Pete Conrad more than anything else was a patriot who loved his 
country and felt that space would provide peace and prosperity for all 
of human kind. This act contains three categories of awards. The first 
category is an award for the amateur astronomer who discovers the 
largest astroid crossing in near-Earth orbit.
  The second category, an award to an amateur astronomer for 
discovering asteroids using information derived from professional 
sources and locating newly discovered asteroids.
  The third category, an award for those who provide the greatest 
service to update Minor Planet Center's catalog of known astroids.
  Let me just state that for those people who believe that there is no 
threat and that we live in a world today where those movies that talked 
about astroids colliding with the world and the threat that it posed, 
that that is all science fiction, I have got bad news for them. It is 
not science fiction.
  There are numerous examples of astroids and comets in the last few 
years that have come very near to the world and not been undetected 
until the last minute or even after they pass by the world. One of them 
was coming in from the Sun and was not seen until after it passed the 
Earth's orbit. If any of these astroids or comets would have hit the 
Earth, it would have been a catastrophic occasion, perhaps killing 
hundreds of millions of people. Perhaps in one case in the past, 
millions of years ago, that is perhaps what eliminated the dinosaur 
life on our planet.
  The following is a list of examples of recently observed asteroids:

  An asteroid about 300 meters in size crossed a near-Earth orbit about 
500,000 miles from our planet in October of last year.
  An asteroid about the size of three football fields made its closest 
approach to the Earth (roughly the same distance: twice the Moon's 
distance from the Earth) on January 7, 2002.
  An asteroid reportedly the size of an 18-story building on a close 
approach to Earth (just a bit farther out than the Moon) was observed 
on March 8.
  The disturbing point about this asteroid is that it was seen from 
Earth again only after it had moved out of the glare of the Sun and 
into the night sky on March 12.
  For each nearby asteroid that is spotted there are several that pass 
entirely unnoticed.
  Some researchers estimated that there are roughly 25 asteroids, 
roughly the size of the one observed on March 12, cross a near-Earth 
orbit that is closer than the Moon.
  Astronomers believe that the number of undiscovered asteroids far 
exceeds the known list currently available to the scientific community.
  We need to know if there is a threat coming at the world. And having 
our young people, giving them awards, having amateur astronomers look 
into the sky to help us find those objects is something that we are 
mobilizing the people to help us discover that possible threat. If we 
see something coming at us that is years away, then we can handle that. 
We can do something about it. If we do not find out until a mere month 
or two beforehand, the Earth could be in real danger.
  I was the chairman of a hearing in which we had the experts testify 
on this issue; and one expert said, Congressman, you do not have to 
worry about that. There is about as much chance of a comet hitting the 
Earth as it is of you going to Las Vegas and getting a royal straight 
flush. And I said, Oh, my gosh. I did get a royal straight flush once. 
I remember that happening.
  So this is a real threat, but it is not something we have to fear. It 
is something we have to look at and try to find a way to identify 
threats. It is called Home Planet Defense. We need to pay some 
attention to it; and then if an asteroid does threaten us, we will be 
able to identify it far in advance and deter it from its path so it 
would not hurt the people of the world.
  This is the purpose of this Pete Conrad bill. We want to get our 
young people more interested in space and science and mathematics. This 
bill is a way to do it. The awards will be administered by the 
Smithsonian Institution, and I am asking all of my colleagues to join 
me in co-sponsoring the Pete Conrad Award bill because this bill will 
do a great deal in bringing to our

[[Page H1670]]

young people the realities of science and America's space program. Let 
us get them off of these electronic games and get them into the real 
world and the real world may well be dealing with threats coming to us 
from outer space from great distances away, asteroids and comets that 
we should know about.
  Again, I ask my colleagues to join me in co-sponsoring the Charles 
Pete Conrad Astronomy Award Act, and I look forward to working with my 
colleagues and seeing that we get young Americans looking up just like 
Pete Conrad, always looking up and getting involved.

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