Lamar Smith: “I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California, Majority Whip…”

“I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, for honoring Neil Armstrong and NASA Deputy Administrator Hugh Dryden with this bill. Not many people know the relationship between these two men. Hugh Dryden was the visionary behind NASA's X-15 rocket plane and the Apollo program. Neil Armstrong was the one who flew the spacecraft that Dryden envisioned. The X-15 rocket plane set many speed and altitude records in the early 1960s. Hugh Dryden was the engineer and program manager for that spacecraft which Neil Armstrong flew seven times. While everyone knows that Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the Moon, not many people know Hugh Dryden's role. The Soviets had launched the first satellite Sputnik in 1957, and cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin became the first man in space in April 1961. President John F. Kennedy wanted to demonstrate American ingenuity and technical superiority over the Soviet Union, so he convened the National Space Council. President Kennedy asked for their advice on the best way for America to respond to the Soviet's string of firsts in space exploration. In that meeting, Hugh Dryden recommended to the President that the goal of putting a man on the Moon within 10 years was achievable and something the American people could rally behind. The rest is history. President Kennedy grabbed Hugh Dryden's idea and addressed a joint session of Congress the very next month.…”