[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 114 (Monday, July 27, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S8130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COMMENDING THE CREW OF STS-125

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Madam President, today I wish to congratulate 
and honor the crew of STS-125, who conducted NASA's fifth and final 
mission to the Hubble Space Telescope earlier this year. The crew--
Commander Scott D. Altman, Pilot Gregory C. Johnson and mission 
specialists John M. Grunsfeld, Michael J. Massimino, Andrew J. Feustel, 
Michael T. Good and Megan McArthur--brilliantly executed a mission that 
included an unprecedented five spacewalks in 5 consecutive days to 
install two new instruments, repair two others and add necessary 
upgrades to extend the life of the Hubble. Most importantly, they 
returned safely to Earth.
  I would like to specifically acknowledge Dr. Grunsfeld, whom I have 
had the pleasure of knowing for many years. Prior to the mission, the 
New York Times referred to Dr. Grunsfeld as the ``keeper of the 
Hubble'' because of his long commitment to the program, including three 
servicing missions. I cannot imagine a better caretaker. Without him, 
the Hubble would not be the unparalleled success it is today. I am also 
thrilled that Dr. Grunsfeld will be joining the faculty of the 
University of Colorado at Boulder after an extraordinary career at 
NASA.
  I had the pleasure of meeting with the crew last week. We talked 
about the marathon spacewalks needed to install upgrades to Hubble that 
often required on-the-spot improvisation by the astronauts. It is a 
testament to the crew's professionalism, teamwork and resourcefulness 
that the spacewalks were so successful given such challenging 
conditions. We also discussed what each astronaut will be doing next--
most will be returning to the astronaut corps awaiting their next 
mission-- and how the microgravity of space adds an inch or more to 
your height. I appreciate the time they gave me and am always honored 
to visit with these extraordinary Americans.
  It isn't widely known, but the State of Colorado and NASA have deep 
connections. The University of Colorado receives more research funding 
from NASA than any other university. Colorado enjoys the second largest 
aerospace economy in the country, behind only California, including 
significant endeavors in both civilian and military aerospace. After 
this final servicing mission, which added the cosmic origins 
spectrograph and widefield camera 3 to the Hubble, every scientific 
instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope has been made by Boulder, 
Colorado-based Ball Aerospace. Ball also built the corrective optics to 
fix the telescope's flawed vision upon installation in 1993. Ball 
Aerospace played an essential part in the Hubble story, and I am 
extremely proud of the contributions it has made to Hubble's success.
  We should not forget that there was a time when it appeared this 
mission would never occur. Following the Space Shuttle Columbia 
tragedy, NASA initially decided to cancel all further missions to 
Hubble, arguing that it was too risky. At the time, I was a member of 
the House of Representatives Science Committee's Space and Aeronautics 
Subcommittee, and I strongly urged NASA to reconsider its decision. I 
believed that we should not abandon the world's greatest scientific 
instrument when servicing missions were no riskier than missions to the 
International Space Station, which NASA was planning to continue. I was 
pleased that, after some deliberation, NASA changed course and decided 
to go forward with the final servicing mission.
  Hindsight being what it is, it is easy to say that continuing the 
Hubble servicing mission was the right choice to make. But for me, it 
was always the best option. As Dr. Grunsfeld said during the mission, 
the Hubble is about humanity's quest for knowledge. Over the past 19 
years, the Hubble Space Telescope has opened fantastic windows into the 
universe. With it we have seen the pillars of creation and the death 
throes of distant stars. We have seen signs of supermassive black holes 
at the centers of galaxies and evidence that our universe is expanding 
at an ever increasing rate. And we have found planets similar to our 
own orbiting stars much like the Sun, reigniting old debates that force 
us to ask if we are alone in this universe. That is a quest we should 
not easily give up.
  I find it fitting that the crew of STS-125 visited Capitol Hill on 
the same week as the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. 
For an agency that has had its fair share of tragedies and triumphs, 
surely the Apollo 11 mission and the Hubble Space Telescope stand out 
as shining examples of the heights NASA can reach. They are arguably 
the agency's greatest successes in manned and unmanned space 
exploration.
  As high water marks of the past, they also offer useful perspective 
on the future of NASA. NASA is at a crossroads, where we must answer 
questions about the future balance of manned versus unmanned space 
exploration, about whether we should set our sights next on the Moon, 
Mars or some other goal, about how to cope with completion of the 
International Space Station and retirement of the Space Shuttle in 
coming years. And we must answer all of these questions during the most 
difficult economic conditions of a generation. I look forward to those 
debates in the Senate, but they are debates for another day.
  Today is about honoring the crew of STS-125. Our thanks go out to 
Scott Altman, Gregory Johnson, John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino, 
Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur, and all of the other 
Hubble caretakers over the years. They have steadied Hubble's gaze, 
sharpened its vision and extended its reach. Thanks to them we can keep 
our eyes focused on the heavens, touch the face of God and learn a 
little more about the universe and ourselves.

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