[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 127 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4605-S4606]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 731. Mr. NELSON (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Warner, Mr. Tillis, 
and Mr. Markey) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him 
to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and

[[Page S4606]]

for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe 
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other 
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

     SEC. __. APOLLO I LAUNCH TEST ACCIDENT MEMORIAL AT ARLINGTON 
                   NATIONAL CEMETERY, VIRGINIA.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) On January 27, 1967, National Aeronautics and Space 
     Administration (NASA) 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 the Apollo I Command Module on Launch Pad 34 at 
     the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
       (2) Command Pilot Virgil I. ``Gus'' Grissom was selected by 
     NASA in 1959 as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts. 
     He piloted the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft on July 21, 1963, on 
     the second and final Mercury suborbital test flight, served 
     as command pilot on the first manned Gemini flight on March 
     23, 1965, and was named as Command Pilot of the first Apollo 
     flight. He began his career in the United States Army Air 
     Corps and was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air 
     Force at the time of the accident, and he is buried at 
     Arlington National Cemetery.
       (3) Senior Pilot Edward H. White II was selected by NASA as 
     a member of the second astronaut team in 1962. He piloted the 
     Gemini-4 mission, a 4-day mission that took place in June 
     1965, during which he conducted the first extravehicular 
     activity in the United States human spaceflight program. He 
     was named as Command Module Pilot for the first Apollo 
     flight. He began his career as a cadet at the United States 
     Military Academy and was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United 
     States Air Force at the time of the accident, and he is 
     buried at West Point Cemetery.
       (4) Pilot Roger B. Chaffee was selected by NASA as part of 
     the third group of astronauts in 1963. He was named as the 
     Lunar Module Pilot for the first Apollo flight. He began his 
     career as a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps midshipman 
     at Illinois Institute of Technology and Purdue University 
     before commissioning as an ensign in the United States Navy, 
     he was a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy at 
     the time of the accident, and he is buried at Arlington 
     National Cemetery.
       (5) All 3 astronauts were posthumously awarded the 
     Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
       (6) As Arlington National Cemetery is where the United 
     States recognize heroes who have passed in the service of our 
     Nation, it is fitting on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo I 
     launch test accident that the United States acknowledge those 
     astronauts by building a memorial in their honor.
       (b) Construction of Memorial to the Crew of the Apollo I 
     Launch Test Accident at Arlington National Cemetery.--Subject 
     to applicable requirements of section 2409(b)(2)(E) of title 
     38, United States Code, the Secretary of the Army shall, in 
     consultation with the Administrator of the National 
     Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Commission of Fine 
     Arts, and the Advisory Committee on Arlington National 
     Cemetery, authorize the construction at an appropriate place 
     in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, of a memorial 
     marker honoring the three members of the crew of the Apollo I 
     crew who died during a launch rehearsal test on January 27, 
     1967, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
                                 ______