[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16620-16621]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            TRIBUTE TO ASTRONAUT PETE CONRAD, AMERICAN HERO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, earlier the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Calvert) spoke about Pete Conrad whom we laid to rest today in 
Arlington National Cemetery, an American hero and a member of the team 
that walked on the Moon, in fact the third man to have walked on the 
Moon. It was my honor to have represented Mr. Conrad in Congress. In 
fact, he lived in Huntington Beach, California. I had many, many 
meetings with Pete. I was very honored to not only know him but I was 
very, very pleased to have had the guidance that he gave me over the 
years in dealing with American space policy. Now as the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, that advice that he was giving 
me was of real importance and of real value. Pete was

[[Page 16621]]

such a wonderful person. It was a sad day, but then again knowing Pete 
and his spirit, it was a day that we know that the spirit of Pete 
Conrad lives on.
  Over the years, I have observed that real heroes do not look like the 
ones in the movies. John Wayne never risked his life for his country, 
but he was certainly tall and handsome. No, the real heroes that I have 
met generally have been short and balding. Jimmy Dolittle was like 
that. I met Jimmy Dolittle on one occasion. And so was Pete Conrad.
  If Pete were here today, he would be really embarrassed to hear me 
compare him to such a courageous and heroic man as Jimmy Dolittle. But 
that trait of being humble was one of the traits that made Pete Conrad 
himself such a great man.
  When you think about it, great people, the great people of our 
country, just what is Americanism, who are these great Americans that 
people have thought about? In the past, the personification of the 
American ideal, perhaps let us say back in the 19th century, one would 
have to say that the personification of the American ideal was the 
pioneer or the frontiersman, with perhaps a little bit of cowboy or 
industrialist thrown in as well. Well, in this century, we need look no 
further than Pete Conrad, the man whom we laid to rest in Arlington 
today.
  Pete Conrad was the quintessential 20th century American hero. It is 
fitting, then, that Pete was buried today among America's most noble 
champions in Arlington National Cemetery.
  Pete's accomplishments in the space program, of course, speak for 
themselves. He was the third human being to have walked on the Moon. He 
did an incredible job in front of the whole world as it watched in 
repairing Skylab. He piloted or commanded four different space flights. 
Before that, he had a career as a naval officer and, yes, during some 
of the other space missions, Pete was an intricate part of the team 
that backed up those people who were flying the missions.
  I would also like to pay tribute not only to his accomplishments but 
to those personal qualities that made him much more than a space age 
technician and a flight jockey. He was a man with enthusiasm for life 
and adventure. He had wit and optimism. His vision, his humble 
demeanor, his positive can-do spirit with which he approached every 
task, every challenge, was something that inspired and energized 
everyone with whom he worked. His spirit itself was an immeasurable 
contribution to America's space program. And, yes, his persona became a 
part of the personalities and the personality of America's space 
effort. He took his job seriously but never took himself too seriously, 
which was part of his charm and an example to others. He did not dwell 
on the past which of course is a trap for both individuals and 
institutions of great accomplishment.
  Pete instead, yes, he looked back and he thought about that and he 
talked about that when he was asked about it, but he was busy laying 
the foundation for America's next exciting era in space, the era of 
space commercialization, when space becomes the arena of 
entrepreneurship, open to all with boundless opportunity rather than 
the confines of bureaucratic management and government planning. This, 
too, is the epitome of Americanism. We are a people who want to lead 
the way, maintaining a fun-loving spirit as we do but making no 
apologies about wanting to make a profit by doing what is right as 
well.
  I chaired the hearing of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics on 
NASA's 40th birthday, its anniversary. Pete testified, his testimony 
was superb, or should I say, as Pete would, super. He said, ``It was a 
crazy time of excitement and adventure and new worlds to explore,'' of 
the 1960s and 1970s. But Pete said, ``I would like to go on record as 
saying those days are not half as exciting as the coming age of 
commercial space.''
  That was Pete Conrad, a man who was pointing the way to the future. 
We laid him to rest today. We are all grateful for the things he did 
for his country, for the world, and I am grateful tonight to have had 
the opportunity to speak on his behalf.
  God bless Pete Conrad and God bless the United States of America.

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