U.S. Senate Floor
May 25, 2011

Senator Mikulski gave the following remarks on the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's Call to the Moon speech.

"May 25, 2011, marked the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's speech that set the original dream of American exploration with a goal of sending a human to the Moon and returning him safely by the end of the decade.  

"President Kennedy's speech was more than a call for a moon shot.  It was seventeen days after Alan Shepard became the second human in space, and the Nation was still recovering from a recession and recovering from the Cuban missile crisis.  That year, President Kennedy took the unusual step of coming to Congress in May to address urgent, 'extraordinary' national needs.  During his speech, he said, 'In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the Moon…it will be an entire Nation.  For all of us must work to put him there.'  He sounded the starting gun of the space race.  In that race, the United States and its young President were determined to cross the finish line first.  

"America is no longer in a Space Race.  We're in a race for our economic future.  We're not racing other countries.  We're racing ourselves.  To win this economic race, we must do as President Obama has urged us.   We must work together to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build our competitors.  That's why I fight so hard to invest in America's exploration and discovery which creates jobs for today and jobs for tomorrow.   

"As we were 50 years ago, our space program is embarking on a new journey.  This year, after 30 years of great service NASA will retire the Space Shuttle with honor and dignity.  We will bid goodbye to this workhorse that launched and fixed Hubble and built the International Space Station.  

"Last year, Congress gave NASA a new path forward.  My colleagues and I fought to pass a new authorization bill.  It was not easy.  There was confusion and chaos about the path forward, and the austere budget environment required tough choices.  The authorization law established a balanced space program.  It increased investments in Science and Aeronautics so we can explore the universe, protect the planet, and make air travel safer and more reliable.  The bill provided for new Space Technology research and development to make exploring space safer and more efficient.  Finally, it gave us a sustainable human space flight program that extends the International Space Station lab to 2020, opens low Earth orbit to commercial providers, for cargo first, then crew, and broadens human reach beyond low Earth orbit.   

"NASA will begin building our next generation vehicles to go beyond low Earth orbit, the heavy lift rocket and the Orion capsule.  The private sector will build commercial cargo and crew vehicles, with NASA providing the venture capital to get cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station while building a whole new industry.  

"The Shuttle is retiring, but our missions in space will sail on.  It doesn't matter how we get there.  We can't be defined by our Space Transportation System.  Our future in space will be built on innovation and discovery from commercial rockets taking cargo – and someday astronauts – to the International Space Station; to the James Webb Space Telescope discovering new galaxies and new frontiers in science; to new technologies to grab and fix damaged satellites in space with robots.   

"New technologies don't just happen.  They come from American ingenuity that is built on discovery and innovation.  They've made America great – and they've made us a Nation worth imitating.  

"As we look around the world, we see people who yearn to imitate the democracy we have, who brought down dictators and autocrats with American innovations like Twitter.  They believe representative, parliamentary bodies can give them an orderly way to move government forward and will give them better lives, helping them compete in the world economy.  

"Already, emerging nations, like China, are imitating our investments in discovery and innovation.  China is embarking on an ambitious space program that is reaching for the stars with satellites and astronauts.  China is increasing its science research budget 20 percent each year, seeking to replicate our National Science Foundation.  

"I don't worry about being in a race with China or other nations.  China can't beat us.  We can only beat ourselves by losing our drive to reach for great goals and by failing to invest in the research and development that will help us achieve them.  I will keep fighting to for the innovation and discovery that makes America worth imitating.  

"I believe in the space program.  I believe in space technology, in green science that helps us understand and protect the planet, and in heliophysics that studies the Sun so we know when solar storms could knock out the power grid.  I believe in the men and women of the space program like the astronauts who risk their lives to extend our human reach in space, the astrophysicists who teach us about dark matter and the origins of the universe, and the machinists who craft the precision robots that explore the universe for us.  The men and women of the space program are the best of the American economy, creating jobs for today and jobs for tomorrow.  

"President Kennedy knew we needed all of the Nation's talents to go safely to the Moon.  Fifty years later, we live in different, and more frugal, times.  We must not let our urgent, immediate needs keep us from investing in programs that see results well into the future.  While looking toward immediate national needs, President Kennedy also urged investments for the long haul.  He wanted the United States to take risks on science that changed the world, putting people on the Moon, and on a civilian weather satellite in space.  

"While America waits on our new crop of innovations to mature, we'll keep reaping the harvest of the discoveries and investments made long ago that have become the Internet, medical imaging like MRIs, and countless other products that help American companies invent new products and create new jobs.   

"In these frugal times, we should all work together to keep alive President Kennedy's spirit of exploration and discovery and win the future."