    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [March 5, 1998]
    [Pages 334-335]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Screening of ``From the Earth to the Moon''
    March 5, 1998

        Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to all. Thank
    you, John Kennedy, for those wonderful
    remarks. Thank you, Jeff Bewkes, for taking a
    chance on this project. I know it's a big, big project. I predict it
    will get a big, big response from the American people. Thank you, Tom
    Hanks, and thank all of you who were part of this.
        I'd also like to thank the people at NASA, with whom you worked--I'm
    sure many of them are here--for the work they do every day. I thank all
    the astronauts who are here. And we're especially proud of Lieutenant
    Colonel Eileen Collins, who will be our
    first woman mission leader very soon.
        There's not much more that needs to be said. But as one of the
    graduates of the class of 1968, I want to thank all of you for saving
    1968 all over again. [Laughter]
        Hillary, today, when we honored Eileen Collins, pointed out that when she was a young girl she wrote off
    to NASA and asked for information about how to be an astronaut. And she
    was told that, at the time, women were not welcome in the program.
    Today, we see that change.
        The growth of the space program and the way it's changed and
    strengthened is in many ways evidence of the growth of America over the
    last three decades. And I think any of us who had anything to do with it
    have been profoundly proud of it. Hillary mentioned the Mars mission
    that seemed, once again, to sort of spark the popular imagination in our
    Nation for the space program with the wonderful Sojourner looking around
    for red rocks with wonderful names like Scooby Doo. [Laughter]
        You know, the international space station will be up before long,
    and it will literally be the size of a football field. Now, the
    vehicle John Glenn went up in over 35 years ago
    was about the size of a compact car. And when the space station is
    there, it will change forever the way people can relate to the Earth and
    to the other planets in the solar system. All of this has happened for a
    lot of reasons.
        There are Members of Congress here, and I thank them for their
    presence. Congress continued to support the space station and space
    program against the kinds of criticisms that are still current today
    that John so eloquently chronicled from the 1960's. President Kennedy
    wanted us to become the world's leading spacefaring nation, and we have.
    I want us to continue that distinction well into the 21st century. It is
    profoundly important to us. Colonel Collins, for example, will lead us in an effort to launch a
    telescope that will allow us to peer into the deepest reaches of outer
    space. The new balanced budget will support 28 more space missions, to
    help us decipher more of the mysteries of black holes, of ancient stars,
    of the Earth itself.
        The knowledge we gain from these missions will help us to solve
    problems here on Earth, from osteoporosis to ovarian cancer. It will
    help to make our farms more productive. It will help us to deal with the
    crisis of global warming. And as the distinguished scientist Stephen
    Hawking, who will be in this place
    tomorrow night, has pointed out, it may well help us uncover the very
    origins of human life itself.
        I hope all of you who are part of this project will be able to look
    back 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now with immense pride that you have once
    again sparked the imagination, the dreams, the hopes, and the courage of
    the American people to follow our astronauts into space and to follow
    our imaginations wherever they lead.
        Thank you, and God bless you.
        There are so many wonderful people here tonight, I hesitate to
    acknowledge anyone. But someone who helped us all get through that

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    era is here: Walter Cronkite, thank you very
    much for your presence.
        And now Hillary and I would like to invite you all into the State
    Dining Room for a reception, where we will try to stay on both feet, on
    the ground. [Laughter]
        Thank you, and bless you. Let's go in.

    Note: The President spoke at 8 p.m. in the East Room at the White House,
    following the screening of an episode of the Home Box Office production.
    In his remarks, he referred to John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of President
    John F. Kennedy; Jeff Bewkes, chairman, Home Box Office; actor Tom
    Hanks; and former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite.