Pete Sessions: “Today we are celebrating the accomplishments of the men and women of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL…”

“Today we are celebrating the accomplishments of the men and women of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, on the occasion of their 40th anniversary which will be celebrated tomorrow. In September of 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower dedicated the Marshall Space Flight Center, which soon began making history under the leadership of Dr. Wernher von Braun. From the Mercury-Redstone vehicle that placed America's first astronaut, Alan Shepard, into suborbital 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. We are fortunate to have these dedicated men and women in Huntsville. I take this opportunity to express my compliments and those of the American people to the men and women at Marshall Space Flight Center, which began 40 years ago, sent men to the moon, and now is working steadfastly to create a cost-efficient, effective way to send people into space routinely, almost as easily as we fly now across the Atlantic Ocean.”