[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5780]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              SHUTTLE SNUB

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. ``Houston, we have a problem.'' These were the 
words from space when Apollo 13 was in trouble. The NASA folks in 
Houston, Texas, helped bring Apollo 13 back to Earth safely.
  Now, Houston, we have another problem, because for obvious political 
reasons none of the four shuttles are going to be retired at Space 
Center USA--Houston, Texas--the home of NASA, the Johnson Space Center, 
and the home of the astronauts.
  For nearly 50 years, Houston, Texas, has been the center of world 
space exploration. Why the apparent shuttle snub to Houston and to 
history? Well, it's blatantly political. Texas is a red State, and the 
four winners of the shuttles--one of which has nothing to do with 
NASA--all are States that voted for the President.
  When the U.S. won its race to the Moon in 1969, the first word on the 
Moon was ``Houston,'' not ``New York City.'' Now it should be said, 
``Houston, the shuttles have landed, but only in the blue States that 
voted for the President.''
  This ought not to be, but that's just the way it is.

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