Mark Gordon: “The House today has the pleasant task of congratulating the Mars Exploration Rover team for their success in landing the…”

“The House today has the pleasant task of congratulating the Mars Exploration Rover team for their success in landing the Spirit Rover on Mars on January 3. The pictures being returned from the surface of Mars reminds us of the excitement that comes from seeing new places for the first time and wondering what we will learn from being there. NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University can be proud of what has been accomplished... The premier position of the United States in planetary exploration owes much to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Astronomy textbooks after 1980 had to be rewritten in the aftermath of the epic Voyager mission, and spacecraft developed by JPL have taken us to all of the planets except for Pluto. But Mars has been a prime target for robotic exploration since the 1960s. There have been both triumphs and setbacks in that exploration as NASA has attempted ever more ambitious missions. The images have been awe-inspiring.”