[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 144 (Thursday, September 22, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INTRODUCING THE ``APOLLO 1'' MEMORIAL BILL

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                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 22, 2016

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
introduce the ``Apollo 1 Memorial Act''. The Nation's success in human 
spaceflight is well documented. Astronauts are American heroes. John 
Glenn, Neil Armstrong, and Sally Ride. These are some of the familiar 
names that our children read about in their textbooks.
  Unfortunately, success in human spaceflight has come at a high cost. 
Brave men and women have paid the ultimate cost in the name of space 
exploration.
  On January 27, 1967, Astronauts Command Pilot Virgil I. ``Gus'' 
Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee 
were killed in an electrical fire that broke out inside their Apollo 1 
Command Module on Launch Pad 34 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape 
Canaveral, Florida. Although all three astronauts were posthumously 
awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, it is surprising that 
we do not have a memorial to honor the lives of the crew of Apollo 1 as 
was done for the Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews.
  This bill would redress that unfortunate omission. As Arlington 
National Cemetery is where we recognize heroes who have passed in the 
service of the Nation, it is fitting on the 50th anniversary of the 
Apollo 1 accident that we acknowledge these astronauts by building a 
memorial in their honor. This bill would direct the Secretary of the 
Army, in consultation with the Administrator of the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to construct at an 
appropriate place in Arlington National Cemetery, a memorial marker 
honoring these fine men.
  In addition to $500,000 from the Army's fiscal year 2017 operations 
and maintenance appropriated funds, the bill provides the NASA 
Administrator with the authority to accept donations of services, 
money, and property for the memorial marker.
  In closing Mr. Speaker, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the 
Apollo accident, we have the opportunity to honor these three brave men 
and their contribution to America's preeminence in human spaceflight. 
It is time to build a memorial so that current and future Americans 
never forget their sacrifice.
  I am pleased to be joined by Chairman Jeff Miller and Representatives 
Mark Takano, Corrine Brown, Donna Edwards and Gus Bilirakis as an 
original cosponsor of this legislation, and I hope that it can be 
swiftly enacted into law.

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