[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 26621-26622]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING APOLLO 11

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 3, 2009

  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, ``One small step for man, one giant 
leap for mankind.'' Forty years ago, Neil Armstrong spoke the words 
that would soon resonate across a nation, and with them bring renewed 
pride and a sense of patriotism to the American public. It was in 1961 
that President Kennedy expressed in a speech before Congress his belief 
``that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before 
this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him 
safely to earth.'' Eight years later, on the 20th of July, that goal 
was achieved, and with it a new watershed moment in American history.
  The legacy of the Apollo project is a multifaceted one; it 
demonstrated the unmatched American capacity to meet and overcome 
challenges, while stimulatingly establishing national prominence over 
rival nations. As observed in the November issue of Science magazine in 
1968, ``NASA has not been our largest national undertaking, but . . . 
it may

[[Page 26622]]

turn out that [the program's] most valuable spin-off of all will be 
human rather than technological: better knowledge of how to plan, 
coordinate, and monitor the multitudinous and carried activities of the 
organizations required to accomplish great social undertakings.''
  With the Soviet Union a distant memory for many Americans, it is 
easily forgotten how the perception of the Soviet leadership in space 
and technology affected the country's perception of itself. So, as we 
look back on the Apollo Project, and in particular on the flight of 
Apollo 11, it is important to remember the political tides that fueled 
its origins and set the stage for an era of renewed American esteem. 
Yet let us not lose the greater lesson: that when met with adversity, 
Americans will rise to the challenge and reaffirm within themselves 
their ability to meet challenges in order to prosper as a nation.

                          ____________________