Dana Rohrabacher: “Last week, Mr. Speaker, President Bush unveiled our administration's vision for space exploration, including humans…”

“Last week, Mr. Speaker, President Bush unveiled our administration's vision for space exploration, including humans returning to the moon and eventually traveling on to Mars. The President's plan envisions a working relationship between both man and machine in charting new pathways for exploring the solar system. On January 3, we all witnessed a new chapter in America's continuing space experience with the success and the landing of the Spirit on the martian surface. The creative and hardworking professionals at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and at Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, have once again hit the bull's eye after a 300-million-mile trip. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, I rise in support of the gentleman from California's (Mr. Dreier) resolution, H. Res. 490, to honor NASA and those working on this exciting mission. Over the course of my tenure as chairman, I am particularly pleased that our Members have fought hard on a bipartisan basis to ensure the exploration of neighboring planets and to make the investment in basic research that is so necessary for human progress in the area of technology.”