S.Amdt. 731

SA 731. Mr. NELSON (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Warner, Mr. Tillis,
and Mr. Markey) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him
to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and

[[Page S4606]]

for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

SEC. __. APOLLO I LAUNCH TEST ACCIDENT MEMORIAL AT ARLINGTON
NATIONAL CEMETERY, VIRGINIA.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) On January 27, 1967, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) Astronauts Command Pilot Virgil I.
``Gus'' Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot
Roger B. Chaffee were killed in an electrical fire that broke
out inside the Apollo I Command Module on Launch Pad 34 at
the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
(2) Command Pilot Virgil I. ``Gus'' Grissom was selected by
NASA in 1959 as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts.
He piloted the Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft on July 21, 1963, on
the second and final Mercury suborbital test flight, served
as command pilot on the first manned Gemini flight on March
23, 1965, and was named as Command Pilot of the first Apollo
flight. He began his career in the United States Army Air
Corps and was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air
Force at the time of the accident, and he is buried at
Arlington National Cemetery.
(3) Senior Pilot Edward H. White II was selected by NASA as
a member of the second astronaut team in 1962. He piloted the
Gemini-4 mission, a 4-day mission that took place in June
1965, during which he conducted the first extravehicular
activity in the United States human spaceflight program. He
was named as Command Module Pilot for the first Apollo
flight. He began his career as a cadet at the United States
Military Academy and was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United
States Air Force at the time of the accident, and he is
buried at West Point Cemetery.
(4) Pilot Roger B. Chaffee was selected by NASA as part of
the third group of astronauts in 1963. He was named as the
Lunar Module Pilot for the first Apollo flight. He began his
career as a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps midshipman
at Illinois Institute of Technology and Purdue University
before commissioning as an ensign in the United States Navy,
he was a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy at
the time of the accident, and he is buried at Arlington
National Cemetery.
(5) All 3 astronauts were posthumously awarded the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
(6) As Arlington National Cemetery is where the United
States recognize heroes who have passed in the service of our
Nation, it is fitting on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo I
launch test accident that the United States acknowledge those
astronauts by building a memorial in their honor.
(b) Construction of Memorial to the Crew of the Apollo I
Launch Test Accident at Arlington National Cemetery.--Subject
to applicable requirements of section 2409(b)(2)(E) of title
38, United States Code, the Secretary of the Army shall, in
consultation with the Administrator of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Commission of Fine
Arts, and the Advisory Committee on Arlington National
Cemetery, authorize the construction at an appropriate place
in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, of a memorial
marker honoring the three members of the crew of the Apollo I
crew who died during a launch rehearsal test on January 27,
1967, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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