Kay Bailey Hutchison: “today in honor of the memory and sacrifice of seven astronauts whose lives were tragically cut short one year ago in the…”

“today in honor of the memory and sacrifice of seven astronauts whose lives were tragically cut short one year ago in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia, I bring to the floor a bill to authorize the construction of several memorials in communities that were severely effected by the event. This bill authorizes $5 million to be used in communities along the Space Shuttle Columbia Recovery Corridor: specifically, Lufkin, Hemphill, and Nacogdoches, TX. Each of these communities have started work with NASA to memorialize the disaster and the indomitable spirit of adventure and courage, the spirit that defies complacency and accepts challenge, the spirit that each of these astronauts, and each of these communities showed. This spirit of adventure turned space travel from dreams to a reality. It is this spirit of challenge which fueled the courage and ambition of seven men and women into the sky on January 6, 2003. It is also this same spirit that drives these communities to permanently commemorate the high price we sometimes pay for reaching new horizons.”