[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 21, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E18]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             COMMENDING NASA ON ``SPIRIT'' MISSION TO MARS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 21, 2004

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, after a series of failures in trying to land 
on Mars, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Spirit has successfully 
landed on the red planet. Considering all the electromechanical 
systems, computer software, and retro-rockets that had to faithfully 
operate, the success of landing the spacecraft despite uncooperative 
Martian winds and dust is a testimony to the excellence, grit and 
determination of a host of planners, engineers and scientists at the 
laboratory. In a continuation of these successes, last Thursday, Spirit 
successfully rolled off the lander and onto the Martian surface.
  In the meantime the Spirit's twin is scheduled to land halfway around 
Mars on Sunday, January 25. The mere thought of the possibility of two 
rovers exploring Mars is both exciting and a testimony to our Nation's 
scientific and technical vitality.
  Spirit and Opportunity are just two of the many offspring of the Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory that have been sent on exploration voyages over 
the past four decades, visiting every known planet except Pluto with a 
few looking out into the universe and beyond our local planets.
  In 1930, with the rise of Hitler and anti-Semitism, Theodore von 
Karman left Aachen, Germany and accepted an invitation by the 
California Institute of Technology to come to Pasadena to lead an 
aeronautical laboratory, later named the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. At 
age 81 he was the recipient of the first National Medal of Science, 
bestowed in a White House ceremony by President John F. Kennedy. A 
crater on the Moon is named in his honor.
  Over seven decades, JPL has maintained this dignified position and 
upheld the reputation of von Karman's laboratory as world leader in 
engineering, science and planetary exploration.

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