[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S199-S200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING DR. PIERS SELLERS

  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, on December 23, 2016, the world lost a 
true hero.
  Dr. Piers Sellers was a scientist and an astronaut, having flown 
three times on the space shuttle. On his first mission, he flew aboard 
the Space Shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station, where he 
completed nearly 20 hours of space walks outfitting and assembling the 
orbiting outpost.
  Several years later, following the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle 
Columbia, Piers returned to space and to the International Space 
Station aboard Discovery, carrying out the second of two test flights 
NASA needed to test critical on-orbit inspection and repair procedures 
resulting from the Columbia accident investigation.
  On his third and final mission, he once more flew aboard Atlantis to 
the ISS. On this mission, he served as the robotics officer, again 
playing a key role in assembling and outfitting the space station.
  His career as an astronaut exploring the frontier of space is by 
itself sufficient to justify Piers' status as a national hero; yet his 
service as an astronaut and explorer is a small subset of the 
contributions Piers made to our country and to our entire civilization.
  Piers was a renowned climate scientist, specializing in using 
computer modeling and space-based observations to understand and 
predict the dynamics of our changing planet. He was also a brilliant 
communicator, whether testifying at a Commerce Committee field hearing 
in Miami about the impending dangers of sea level rise or standing in 
front of NASA's ``hyperwall'' video system narrating stunning and 
informative visualizations of the massive data sets that embody the 
``vital signs'' of planet Earth. Countless policymakers, industry 
leaders, and even other scientists owe much of their understanding of 
the complex interactions of Earth's systems and of the alarming and 
undeniable signs that our civilization's carbon emissions are warming 
the planet to Piers.
  Yet Piers' most heroic deed may be the decision he made shortly after 
being diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. He simply decided to 
keep going to work. To those that knew Piers, this was no surprise. A 
three-time shuttle astronaut and very capable manager, scientist, and 
engineer, Piers no doubt had many lucrative offers for employment 
following his final shuttle flight in 2010. Instead he chose to remain 
a civil servant scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center because 
he felt that was where he could contribute most to the future of our 
home planet. A few years later, when Piers received the devastating 
news that he had not long to live, he chose to spend his remaining time 
continuing his work at NASA and communicating climate science to the 
public in the calm and charming manner that was uniquely his.
  In a short video Piers recorded shortly before his death, despite his 
body having been ravaged by cancer and surely knowing that he had very 
little time left, he appeared as cheerful and hopeful as ever. In the 
video, he said

[[Page S200]]

``to reach a safer future, we will need the resources of everybody 
here. The scientists, the policy makers, and the industrialists, all 
working together towards a common goal. And that goal is a planet that 
can continue to support life, including all of us.''
  These words are even more powerful knowing that they came from a man 
who contributed the most precious resource available to him--the small 
number of days he had remaining in his life--toward the common goal he 
speaks of.
  We would do well to follow the advice of Piers and to follow his 
heroic example.

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