Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3752, Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3752, COMMERCIAL SPACE LAUNCH AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - March 03, 2004)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize Chairman Boehlert, Ranking Member GORDON and the entire Science Committee's hard work in crafting this legislation. While I am disappointed that the Committee on Rules did not grant an open rule today, it is refreshing to actually consider a truly bipartisan bill in this body.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3752 will promote the development of the emerging commercial human space flight, extend the government indemnification until 2007, and allow the FAA to issue experimental launch permits. Mr. Speaker, the idea of space travel is extremely exciting and it holds a special place in the heart of Massachusetts' Third Congressional District. My hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, is the birthplace of Dr. Robert Goddard, the father of modern rocketry. At the age of 17, Dr. Goddard had a vision of space travel while in his family's backyard that would remain with him the rest of his life. In his autobiography, Goddard wrote:

"On the afternoon of October 19, 1899, I climbed a tall cherry tree. It was one of the quiet, colorful afternoons of sheer beauty which we have in October in New England, and as I looked towards the fields at the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars. I was a different boy when I descended from the tree from when I ascended for existence at last seemed very purposive."

Mr. Speaker, in 1926 Dr. Goddard, as Director of the physical laboratories at Clark University, went on to launch the first liquid propellant rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts, which was the catalyst for our modern space industry. Throughout his lifetime, Dr. Goddard was at the forefront of science and space research. As a Professor at Clark University and Princeton University, Dr. Goddard devoted his life to the growth of rockets and his research has had lasting effects on our space industry.

During World War II, Dr. Goddard was Director of Research for the Navy Department's Bureau of Aeronautics. In that position he developed jet-assisted takeoff and variable-thrust liquid propellant rockets at Annapolis, Maryland and Roswell, New Mexico. Following his service as a researcher to our Nation in World War II, Dr. Goddard served a year as Director of the American Rocket Society before passing away on August 10, 1945 in Baltimore, Maryland.

As is the case with innovation, many people did not see the potential that Dr. Goddard's research would have on future space travel. Indeed, a New York Times editorial in January 1920 stated that Dr. Goddard's assertions of future space travel lacked the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. Dr. Goddard countered by saying that every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it. Once realized, it becomes commonplace. Of course, 49 years later on the eve of man's first walk on the Moon in 1969, the New York Times printed a correction to their editorial by stating that it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error. That was in their editorial.

Since the start of the space program, we have seen Americans walk on the Moon, we have started to construct an international space station, and we currently have unmanned rovers exploring the surface of Mars. And now, with the passage of this legislation, commercial space travel is one step closer to reality.

Mr. Speaker, while I am disappointed that the Committee on Rules would refer a restrictive rule for this bipartisan bill, I keep hoping that one of these days the rhetoric of my friends on the majority side will be actually matched by their actions, but I guess we are going to have to wait for that day. But having said that, I will not oppose the rule and I support the underlying legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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