Advancing Frontiers of Science

ADVANCING FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE -- (House of Representatives - June 03, 2004)

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Mr. CALVERT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to support NASA's new vision for our continued exploration of the universe. Forty-three years ago, President John F. Kennedy laid out a vision of space exploration that became a reality 8 years later when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon. With the Apollo missions, America led the world in space exploration and propelled decades of technological and biological research that continue to benefit us to this day.

Four decades later, President George W. Bush offered the Nation another bold and challenging vision of space exploration that will keep America economically, technologically, and militarily strong. Congress needs to support this mission so we can work with NASA to achieve the goal of returning Americans to the Moon and sending astronauts to Mars and beyond.

NASA's new space exploration vision comes at a time when America faces increased competition from other nations. Aside from Russia, the People's Republic of China now has an ambitious space flight program. China has already launched a spacecraft into low-Earth orbit and is intent on developing a manned aerospace and lunar exploration program.

We need to return the Space Shuttle to flight, complete the International Space Station, and extend our presence across the solar system by developing a new crew exploration vehicle.

Space exploration not only advances the Nation's vision. It provides jobs, growth and opportunity to millions of American workers. Being the leader in space flight also makes America the leader in commercial research and development. The end of the last century witnessed rapid advances in science and technology that could only have been accomplished by astronauts conducting research in space. Microgravity experiments on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station led to the creation of next-generation silicon computer chips and laser communication.
Experiments on the Shuttle in the early 1990s fostered the development of a manufacturing process known as liquid phase centering that is now being used to produce over $20 billion worth of products in the United States.

Human space flight stimulates our economy and increases our global competitiveness. A new vision must be launched if we are to maintain our lead in space and ensure our viability as a Nation for decades to come. Like it or not, other nations are sending their citizens into space and seeking to reap the rewards of those journeys.

In an ever-changing and more unpredictable world, we cannot afford to cede our leadership role in space. We have come too far and paid too high a price to turn our backs on the future. Supporting NASA's new space exploration vision and a reasonable investment in NASA's budget this year will keep us on a path toward our nation's destiny.

Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert). It is important that he mentioned that the nation of China has an aggressive space program. They have set a goal of going to the Moon. It reminds me that centuries ago, the Chinese had one of the greatest fleets in the world. The emperor who built that great fleet, composed of ships, I understand, that any one of which could have sailed up the Thames River prior to
Columbus' discovery of America and conquered all of England because of their superiority in fire power and the maneuverability of the ships. That emperor who built that fleet died, and the succeeding emperor decided to keep China focused on itself and burned the fleet at the docks in order to keep the Chinese focused inward. As a result, the Chinese lost that great advantage they had in the exploration of the seas, and ceded not only control, they basically lagged far behind the rest of the world in technology, exploration, and freedom.

Mr. CALVERT. The gentleman is correct. Not only did the aforementioned emperor burn the fleet, if I remember correctly, he was the one that first ordered the construction of the wall to insulate themselves from the rest of the world.
That insulation stayed for some centuries, and they put themselves way back in the pecking order of the world. The Chinese now are trying to catch up. They are putting a lot of their national treasure and expertise into outer space.

Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, the Chinese recognize the importance of reaching outward to the nations in not only exploration, but of the tremendous technological benefits to the nation as a whole, and of commerce with other nations. The American people understand that the advancement of exploration of space, the advancement of the frontiers of science bring benefits to us individually and promote the cause of freedom.

Mr. CALVERT. In the 1950s, it was the Russians that first went into outer space with Sputnik. That launched a new generation of young people to go into engineering, science, and technology. Those folks were the backbone of what was the Gemini and the Apollo programs. It was a great part of our history as we went to the Moon and did some wonderful things in outer space.

As the gentleman well knows, in recent times we have starved our science budget. We are not doing as good a job as we should be doing in space exploration, which helped us bring along the personal computer, the types of equipment that we see in our cars that can tell us where we are at any moment, all of these amazing technologies that we just count on. The gentleman is correct, if we do not continue this investment, we are going to be behind in the world, and other nations are going to be ahead of us.

Mr. CULBERSON. It is truly only the Federal Government with the resources we have available to pour into scientific research, much of the work that scientists do, much of the work that NASA does, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the magnificent discoveries that have been made at JPL in California, a part of NASA, have been as a result of the dedicated support of this Congress and of the United States to put the resources, the commitment necessary to run down a lot of the rabbit trails that are necessary. There may be some dead ends there. There are going to be failures and setbacks. Exploration is dangerous; it is hard. Pushing the frontiers of knowledge is hard and requires a commitment that each and every American shares in their heart and they are counting on us to be there, to give the people at NASA, at JPL, and our scientists the support that they need.

Mr. CALVERT. We are a Nation of pioneers. We are a Nation that explores the unknown, and science gives us the ability to go to outer space. Really, outside of the oceans of our Earth, which we continue to explore, space is the next frontier that has unlimited exploration and unlimited discoveries that can help us on this Earth and make us literally the leader of the world for many centuries to come.

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Mr. CALVERT. As my friend from Texas understands also, this is about transformation. This is a time of transformation in the military. It is a time of transformation for NASA, to become refocused upon their primary mission; and their primary mission, I think we all agree, is the exploration of outer space. This is a great opportunity for this country to once again get back to our national dream of space exploration.

As the gentleman from Florida mentioned, whether or not we can afford this, I would say we cannot afford not to. The type of technologies that we have been able to share with this country that have come out of the space program are irreplaceable.

Look what we are doing with energy. The gentleman mentioned energy. Solar. We look at solar as a renewable resource. I cannot think of many folks that have done more work on solar research than NASA, because of what we use solar for today, to help get the energy that is necessary to keep the station going.

The fuel cell technology really started with NASA. Hydrogen technology, fuel cell technology, that gives us a clean source of energy, some people really believe the next generation of energy that will sustain this country as we move away from an oil-based economy.

Communications, where would we be without our cell phones? Sometimes I wonder. But it is those satellites up there that keep us communicating with one another.

All of the types of technologies that come from this fantastic investment, and I say "investment" in the true sense, the return on this, I do not think of many things we do in government that we get a higher return than what we do with the money we put in this.

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Mr. CALVERT. Madam Speaker, just in closing, I would like to point out that in this very building, we were in a conflict between the States and the President at that time. Abraham Lincoln made a determination that the business of the Union would go forward, and the dome of this very building was completed during the Civil War. The business of this Nation moves forward. As a matter of fact, the underpinnings of the great railroad that bound this Nation together was done while Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States while the Civil War was raging across this Nation, but the business of the Republic moved forward.

So to say that we should stop the exploration of outer space for whatever reason is not a good reason, and I thank the gentleman for holding this Special Order.