Congressman Steve Stockman

Representing the 36th District of Texas

Congratulations to NASA For Successful Orion Mission

Dec 5, 2014
Press Release
Congressman Stockman made the following statement on the occasion of today's launch of the Orion spacecraft. Today marks a giant leap towards America's proud return to deep space exploration. Our Orion spacecraft was rocketed to the heavens in an exciting morning launch from the Kennedy Space Center to test it for future human missions to the moon, Mars and asteroids. A mighty Delta IV Heavy rocket flung the spacecraft into a high orbit at 20,000 miles per hour, and then the space capsule automatically reentered into the atmosphere as it would have had it been returning form the moon or Mars; and was successfully guided to a precise landing in the Pacific Ocean under the canopy of massive parachutes. This incredible unmanned launch today sets the stage for American astronauts to once again plant our flag on the Moon, and then much sooner than many may imagine, to land on Mars as well, as humanity reaches out into the solar system and eventually will live on other worlds. I want to thank the thousands of dedicated employees of NASA, Lockheed Martin and many others who made this day possible. In my District, skilled workers at the Johnson Space Center and the many Houston-area contractors have spent years preparing for this day; and they will continue their precision work as they ready the next Orion, and the many following spacecraft; including those which one day will carry the first astronauts to Mars. To our children, this is the launch of an exciting future where you could be part of our space program. You may have the opportunity to build the rockets of tomorrow; to walk on another world; to use what we discover on the road to space to improve our lives at home; or as inspiration for a new space-related venture of your own. As we witness this marvel of American ingenuity and craftsmanship put through its paces on its first test voyage, we must not let our space program and the sciences wither from neglect and cuts, even as China and other nations are dramatically increasing their investments in space and science. Space dominated by the tyrannies of the world would be most unfriendly to America and to commercial space ventures. I stand with Neil deGrasse Tyson in calling to make space once again a national priority, and supporting that priority with a modest increase of the NASA budget to just one percent of the budget. Unlike welfare spending and all the boondoggles and waste that we constantly read about and which must be cut, space exploration returns vastly more than its investment to our economy--and even to our personal health (many medical advances come from space exploration) and to our world economic competitiveness. We must not watch as China reaps the benefits from conquering the moon and Mars, and leaves us as a second-rate nation. Beyond today, we will see many future launches of Orion and our moon-Mars rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). Also on the horizon are our commercial crew launch rockets and capsules from Boeing and Space X, on which our astronauts will once again ride to our space station, and perhaps to other destinations. The highest and best—and most exciting use of the planned 2021 launch of Orion and SLS would be the Mars-Venus flyby which is possible in that year. Imagine astronauts embarking on an 800-million-mile journey to visit both planets in preparation for later landings and bases on Mars and the moon. Such a voyage would directly test the technologies necessary for Martian landings, and re-focus our space program on a determined pathway that will actually take us to Mars. Again I wish to thank the many dedicated people who brought Orion from the drawing board to reality; and on this day, to a successfully-completed mission that brings our astronauts much closer to exciting new missions of discovery and wonder. God bless America, and God bless everyone who made this mission so successful.