[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13501]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 240--RECOGNIZING THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE 
 ADMINISTRATION AND ITS PARTNERS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE HISTORIC FLYBY 
                OF PLUTO BY THE NEW HORIZONS SPACECRAFT

  Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Gardner, Mr. 
Peters, Mr. Cardin, and Mr. Bennet) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation:

                              S. Res. 240

       Whereas, in 1930, from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, 
     Arizona, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, the ninth largest 
     known body orbiting the sun;
       Whereas, on January 19, 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft 
     launched on an Atlas V launch vehicle from the Space Launch 
     Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida;
       Whereas, on July 14, 2015, after a 9\1/2\-year journey, the 
     New Horizons probe successfully flew within approximately 
     7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) of the surface of the dwarf 
     planet Pluto;
       Whereas the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
     (referred to in this preamble as ``NASA'') has now completed 
     missions to each of the 9 largest planetary bodies orbiting 
     the sun;
       Whereas the successful New Horizons mission to Pluto was 
     achieved through years of planning, research, design, 
     testing, and mission operations conducted by the dedicated 
     scientists, engineers, and staff at NASA and affiliated 
     academic and private sector partners;
       Whereas the New Horizons mission was the first mission to 
     study Pluto, the moons of Pluto, and other planetary building 
     blocks within the Kuiper Belt, which is the ring of icy 
     objects that surrounds the solar system beyond the orbit of 
     Neptune;
       Whereas the findings of the New Horizons interplanetary 
     space probe have demonstrated the great scientific value of 
     the continued exploration of Pluto and the outer-region of 
     our solar system;
       Whereas New Horizons is the first mission to collect high-
     resolution images and a variety of other data about the 
     geological and atmospheric composition of Pluto as well as 
     the space environment near Pluto and the moons of Pluto;
       Whereas the initial images and data returned from the New 
     Horizons spacecraft have already led to new discoveries about 
     Pluto, the moons of Pluto, and the space environment near 
     Pluto;
       Whereas images of Pluto show ice mountains that have never 
     been seen before and that are comparable in height to the 
     Rocky Mountains;
       Whereas images of Charon, the largest moon of Pluto, show 
     deep canyons and a row of cliffs and troughs stretching 600 
     miles wide;
       Whereas images of Pluto and Charon show a lack of impact 
     craters, suggesting that their relatively young surfaces have 
     been reshaped by internal geological activity;
       Whereas the data collected by instruments on the New 
     Horizons spacecraft confirms that the Pluto system contains a 
     large amount of frozen water, which is considered an 
     essential building block of life;
       Whereas the data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft 
     will continue to provide scientific insight, data to train 
     the next generation of planetary scientists, and inspiration 
     to humanity for years to come; and
       Whereas the New Horizons spacecraft could continue 
     traveling to the far edges of our solar system and could be 
     capable of exploring the Kuiper Belt and collecting data on 
     our solar system that is not detectable from any other 
     spacecraft or telescope due to its unique position, 
     instrumentation, and long-lasting power supply: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) congratulates the National Aeronautics and Space 
     Administration (referred to in this resolving clause as 
     ``NASA''), the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics 
     Laboratory in Maryland, the Southwest Research Institute in 
     Colorado, and the academic and private sector partners of the 
     New Horizons mission for their roles in the historic flyby of 
     Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft;
       (2) recognizes the importance of the New Horizons mission 
     to the long-term exploration of the solar system by NASA and 
     the training of the next generation of planetary scientists;
       (3) recognizes the importance of the continued pursuit of 
     robotic space exploration missions by NASA, which enable 
     extraordinary scientific discoveries about the nature and 
     origin of our solar system and beyond; and
       (4) recognizes the significance of the scientific and 
     engineering research by NASA with respect to stimulating 
     economic growth, strengthening national competitiveness, and 
     inspiring humankind.

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