[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4015-4016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     THE FIRST WORD WAS ``HOUSTON''

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, the United States is positioned to 
raise the white flag of surrender in space exploration. America is the 
leader in

[[Page 4016]]

space technology, but yet there are plans afoot to turn our lead over 
to the Russians and the Chinese.
  By foolishly canceling the Constellation Program and when the last 
NASA shuttle flight occurs, we will have no means to transport our 
astronauts into space. We will have to hitch a ride with the Russians 
if we want that transportation. And if one of our security satellites 
needs repair, who's to say the Russians will even let us buy a coach 
ticket on their space aircraft.
  Now even the Iranians have entered the space race. Last month they 
sent a rat, two turtles, and a worm into space.
  Keeping our edge in spaceflight is a national security issue. We can 
not give that away to anybody. After all, when Neil Armstrong landed on 
the Moon, the first word was ``Houston,'' not ``Moscow'' or 
``Beijing.''
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________