[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5133]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SPACE TRAVEL IN AMERICA IS HISTORY

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the space shuttle Discovery 
flew through the blue sky over the Nation's capital on its way to its 
final resting place at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 
Virginia. The flyover was met by cheers from some but tears from 
others.
  Space travel in America is history. Our government has chosen to 
abandon the space program as we know it. JFK, NASA, and America put the 
first man on the moon, but we have been the leader in the space race 
for years. Now the sun has set on American manned space travel. Now we 
are raising the white flag of surrender in space travel to the 
Russians. JFK might not approve.
  Ironically, American astronauts will have to rely on an expensive 
ride from the Russians just to get to the Space Station.
  Former Discovery astronaut Dr. Anna Fisher said it well when a bright 
young boy asked her how he could become an astronaut one day. She said, 
study Russian. That ought not to be.
  But that's just the way it is.

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