Bill Nelson: “I rise to speak on a subject that our colleagues know is very dear to my heart--America's space program. Although this…”

“I rise to speak on a subject that our colleagues know is very dear to my heart--America's space program. Although this is the last of many, many floor speeches I have made on the subject, I stand before the Senate with a heart that is full of gratitude, joy, and hope for the future of our space program. I have been extremely privileged to have witnessed and in some cases to have participated in the extraordinary triumphs of our Nation's 60- year quest to explore the heavens. I flew to orbit and marveled at the beauty, fragility, and seemingly peacefulness of Mother Earth, our planet. I had the honor of making that trip with one of the finest crews to have ever flown in America's space program. There was CAPT Robert ``Hoot'' Gibson, our commander, as well as Maj. Gen. Charlie Bolden, Retired, our pilot, who flew five missions--four as commander. Of course, General Bolden ultimately became the Administrator of NASA for the entire time of the Obama administration. There was Dr. George Nelson, otherwise known to all in the astronaut office as Pinky. There was Dr. Steve Hawley, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz--the first Hispanic- American astronaut--and Bob Cenker, who was an engineer at the time with RCA, which was the satellite that we launched while in orbit.…”