Pete Sessions: “I rise today with two purposes in mind. The first is to compliment the men and women who labor on behalf of the nation…”

“I rise today with two purposes in mind. The first is to compliment the men and women who labor on behalf of the nation at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama on the occasion of Marshall's 40th Anniversary. My second purpose is to share some thoughts on the importance of Space Transportation in light of the VA/HUD Appropriations Bill that will come before this body in the not too distant future. These two issues are inextricably linked in that Marshall Space Flight Center is the world leader in space transportation yet ever dependent on the funding that the VA/HUD appropriators provide. For that reason, I compliment Senator Kit Bond, and his superlative staff in advance of the bill being debated for all they continue to do on behalf of NASA and the nation. Their foresight will ultimately make the difference as we continue to move forward as a nation of explorers. In September, 1960 President Dwight Eisenhower dedicated the Marshall Space Flight Center which soon began making history under the mentorship and direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun. From the Mercury-Redstone vehicle that placed America's first astronaut, Alan B. Shepard, into sub-orbital space in 1961, to the mammoth Saturn V rocket that launched humans to the moon in 1969, Marshall and its industry partners have successfully engineered history making projects that gave, and continue to give, America the world's premier space program.”