[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 21, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S5185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NEW HORIZONS PLUTO MISSION

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, 46 years ago yesterday, Neil Armstrong and 
Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on the Moon.
  September will bring the 53rd anniversary of President Kennedy's 
speech that launched America on the quest to land them on the Moon. He 
set that goal for the country not because it was easy but because it 
was hard. I am here to congratulate the men and women of the New 
Horizons mission for making the hard work of sending a spacecraft to 
Pluto look easy.
  One week ago today, what had once been a fuzzy picture of Pluto came 
into sharp focus. Dramatic transformations inspire everyone. As you can 
see, NASA delivered an amazing before-and-after story. Until the New 
Horizons flyby, the best picture we had of Pluto offered little detail 
of our neighbor at the edge of the solar system, but now we can see 
distinct features on its surface, including something that looks like a 
heart. Who couldn't love that. Thank you for this great picture.
  It took the New Horizons spacecraft 9\1/2\ years to cross the 3 
billion miles between Pluto and Earth, but it was a mission much longer 
in the making.
  In the late 1980s, a group of scientists came together to advocate 
for sending a spacecraft to the edge of the solar system. Such a 
mission would tell us more about Pluto and once again push back the 
edge of the known frontier. Many of those scientists are still involved 
with the New Horizons mission, including the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology's own Richard Binzel.
  While these scientists pushed to get the green light for the mission, 
it was only achieved by the partnership between NASA, some of our best 
U.S. universities and the aerospace industry, and the hard work and 
innovation of their scientists, engineers, and staff.
  From just the initial information returned this week, scientists have 
to rethink what they thought they knew about Pluto, its Moons, and its 
space environment. Images came back of mountains of frozen water as 
high as the Rocky Mountains on Pluto. On its Moon Charon, we can now 
see deep canyons and a row of cliffs and troughs stretching 600 miles, 
as far as from Washington, DC, to Atlanta.
  Instruments on the New Horizons probe confirm that the Pluto system 
contains a large amount of frozen water. That is an essential building 
block of life. One thing scientists didn't see--many of the meteorite 
impact craters--suggests that Pluto was geologically active relatively 
recently.
  The voyage of discovery from the flyby will continue for years to 
come. Not only will scientists learn more, but they will also train the 
next generation of planetary scientists. I am proud the youngest member 
of the New Horizons team is Alissa Earle, a graduate student at MIT.
  The New Horizons team is following in the great American exploration 
tradition. They are pushing back the boundaries of geography, 
knowledge, and technology. In doing so, they are inspiring the world. 
No matter what you think of the classification of Pluto as a dwarf 
planet, we can all agree that the New Horizons mission is already a 
massive achievement.
  I look forward to the further revelations it will bring as its data 
streams back to Earth and it travels to the far edges of our solar 
system.
  Finally, I would like to note that in the same week of taking us to 
Pluto, NASA also commenced the continuous monitoring of the Sun and the 
Earth--the only home humans have known thus far. I hope the events of 
this past week confirm the importance of using all of NASA's tools to 
further the exploration of our solar system and universe and better 
understand our own planet as well.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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