[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 17, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H5919-H5920]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BUILDING ON THE APOLLO LEGACY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Posey) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POSEY. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here today to speak 
about the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.
  I can remember sitting in class with the teacher discussing President 
John F. Kennedy's speech about going to the Moon at Rice University in 
1961, when he committed this country to putting a man on the Moon and 
bringing him safely back to Earth within the decade.
  He said: Great nations do things, not because they are easy, because 
they are hard. And it certainly was hard.
  I remember doing the math on my fingers and saying, you know, I am 
going to be old enough to be involved in that program. And my goal 
became to have my fingerprints on the rocket that took the first man to 
the Moon. To make a long story short, 5 years later I was an inspector 
working on the third stage of the Apollo rocket, one of the highlights 
of my life.

[[Page H5920]]

  Americans were united in those days in their zeal for space; the 
Apollo Moon landing being the greatest technological advancement in the 
history of mankind. Some writers described those times as a Camelot 
era, where people respected their President, even if they didn't vote 
for them. Not until 9/11 had I seen Americans as united as they were 
around the Apollo program.
  Space, of course, is important to our national security. It is 
important to our economic prosperity. It is important to our 
technological advancement.
  I ask people how often they benefit from space, and the response 
usually averages, 6 percent say they benefit from space once a year; 4 
percent say they benefit from space once a month; and only 2 percent 
say they benefit from space once a week. And we won't even go to once a 
day.
  I guess those people have roosters in the backyard that give them 
their weather reports. They don't pay any attention to the images we 
have from the satellites. I guess they don't use cell phones, or use 
credit cards, or even make cash transactions, because those are all 
satellite-linked.
  Ultimately, space is important to us for the ultimate survival of our 
species.
  Neil deGrasse Tyson lectured our Science, Space, and Technology 
Committee several years ago on the benefits of space. And while he was 
here, he gave a lecture for staff and Members over at the Jefferson 
Building at the Library of Congress; very well-attended and well-taken.
  During his presentation, he mentioned that space is the only thing 
Congress really spends money on to truly benefit the next generation, 
and I believe that. I believe those are trees that we plant without the 
expectation of being around to enjoy all the shade.
  I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on the 
Science, Space, and Technology Committee for helping keep space a 
bipartisan issue. I hope we can build on the legacy of Apollo 11 and 
that, some day, our children and their children can come together and 
enjoy positive achievements for their generation and generations to 
follow.

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