Honoring the 60th anniversary of the aeronautics research accomplishments embodied in "the breaking of the sound barrier".

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Lampson and Mr. Feeney for their hard work they have been doing here, not just on this legislation but overseeing America's space program. You certainly have my respect and my support, and I'm happy today for their support for this legislation.

This bill takes note and honors America's historic aeronautic accomplishments on the 60th anniversary of one of our great aviation milestones, that of achieving mach 1, better known as breaking the sound barrier.

It also honors those American scientists and technologists who conceived and designed the Bell XS-1, as well as the courage of the hero who flew the plane, General Chuck Yeager of West Virginia.

The leadership of Larry Bell of Bell Aircraft and John Stack of NACA, which is the predecessor of NASA, are also recognized and applauded here today.

The sound barrier was not called a barrier for nothing. As an aircraft approaches the sound barrier, many of the subsonic rules of aerodynamics change radically. Conventional airplanes that had flown close to mach 1 before that, and they had done this mainly when they were diving, were known to have shaken violently and quite often lost control. On that morning of October 14, 1947, the principles of supersonic flight were still not proven. It was unknown whether an airplane could surpass the speed of sound and survive.

The XS-1 was pushing the envelope and it was dangerous. Behind the plane, it was really a rocket, as described, a rocket with wings, which is sort of like the plane I have here. Behind that lay the hard work and dedication of pioneering American scientists and engineers who were to write the book on supersonic design, beginning with the XS-1 project.

The XS-1, a bullet with wings, as they say, was the first high-speed aircraft built purely for aviation research purposes, and the XS-1 project was destined to demonstrate that controlled, sustained flight was possible at supersonic speeds.

In addition, this bill honors Chuck Yeager of West Virginia and all that he represents in America's experimental aeronautics programs. Besides not knowing whether the aircraft would break the sound barrier without breaking apart, no one knew whether the human body could survive the kinds of forces Yeager was about to undergo. He was one of the best and the bravest, and he was, as Tom Wolfe described him, an individual with the right stuff.

Not only did he reach mach 1 on that October morning at Edwards Air Force Base, but he has repeated that on many occasions since, including October 1997 on the 50th anniversary of his flight. His life has been an inspiration to generations of young Americans and, yes, to young people throughout the world.

And so on that October morning, American expertise in aeronautic science and technology, and its human skills and experience in flight, were put to the test and came together to tear down the sound barrier wall and lead the way to a new era of aviation and to the space age beyond.

To continue that tradition and the tradition of these pioneers, I will be introducing an aeronautics and space prize scholarship bill this week. This legislation will create a National Endowment for Space and Aeronautical Technology Development, and it will include a scholarship program, but its primary mission is to provide prizes for those who break technology barriers and enable the further exploration and utilization of space. Certainly, Chuck Yeager would have won one of these prizes.

So I would ask my colleges to join Bart Gordon, Ralph Hall, Bud Cramer and others who are in this in bipartisan support for creating the National Endowment for Space and Aeronautics Technology Development.

I would also ask my colleagues to join me tonight in supporting H. Res. 736, honoring the 60th anniversary of this great milestone in aeronautics and space technology development.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 736) honoring the 60th anniversary of the aeronautics research accomplishments embodied in ``the breaking of the sound barrier''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members

may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H. Res. 736, the resolution now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I stand in strong support of this resolution honoring the 60th anniversary of the breaking of the sound barrier, and I want to compliment Mr. Rohrabacher for introducing it.

Last Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of Captain Charles ``Chuck'' Yeager's historic achievement that led to the first piloted flight at supersonic speeds.

As an airplane approaches the speed of sound, shock waves build up, creating increased drag, loss of lift and loss of control. Airplanes had previously broken up under these conditions, and brave pilots died.

We now know that the passage from subsonic to supersonic speeds is accompanied by some unusual phenomena which lie in the realm of nonlinear mechanical events, events involving some degree of chaos.

America's bright engineers and brave pilots were not deterred. They were drawn to the challenge of bursting through this obstacle to learn what lies on the other side, where no human had ever been.

On October 14, 1947, Captain Yeager, sitting on four rocket engines, blasted through that invisible barrier. Folks on the ground heard the sonic boom, and they knew that he had made it. His successful test flight freed humankind to travel faster and faster by providing data that enabled the mapping of a path to a supersonic future.

This success required all of the ingredients of successful innovation: technical competence, teamwork, a spirit of optimism and adventure that accepts risk taking.

World War II fighter pilot Captain Chuck Yeager was recognized as the man for this job. The X-1 was a joint project of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, NACA, the Air Force, and Bell Aircraft, with the turbo-pump-equipped rocket made by Reaction Motors, Incorporated. It has been described as a bullet with wings on it, just 31 feet long and a 28-foot wingspan.

It's on display less than a mile from here over at the Air and Space Museum, surrounded by many other great achievements of NACA and its successor, NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The X-1 and subsequent aerospace achievements have kept us where the action is and kept us technologically competitive. We want to stay in this game for the next 60 years, and so I will continue to work to keep America technologically competitive in aerospace and in all other areas of innovation.

And with this resolution, I pay my respects to Chuck Yeager and to the many men and women of America's great aerospace tradition. I thus want to voice my support for this resolution, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers. I'll just say that we commend Chuck Yeager for his bravery and for the work that he did to give us an opportunity to change the world, and we are quite excited about what transpired since that time and looking forward to what's going to happen in the future.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of our colleagues to enthusiastically support this resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Lampson, and I yield the initial 7 minutes of my time to the prime sponsor of the resolution, my friend from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I'm proud to be a cosponsor of this resolution, along with Mr. Lampson, that Mr. Rohrabacher is the prime sponsor of, and it does a number of important things.

It congratulates the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and their test pilots. This was the successor agency to what we now know as NASA. It honors the bravery of Chuck Yeager and all of the many other test pilots that took on such risks, and it basically emphasizes a strong and robust aeronautics research program for America.

As both Mr. Lampson and Mr. Rohrabacher have pointed out, Mr. Yeager's historic flight on October 14, 1947, breaking the sound barrier was a very dangerous and precarious experiment. At that time, pilots routinely risked losing control of their aircraft or, sadly, lost their lives due to extreme forces on the airplane.

But it's not just that great flight that made Chuck Yeager such a great test pilot in America. Chuck Yeager was only 24 when he flew the Bell X-1 on the famous flight above the Muroc

Army Air Field in California. Two days prior to his record-breaking flight, Mr. Yeager broke two ribs after falling off a horse. Fearing that knowledge of this injury would disqualify him from the scheduled flight, he hid his injury from his superiors and, as a result, had to improvise a way to close the latch on his plane.

Having successfully broken the sound barrier, others soon followed in Mr. Yeager's footsteps, flying newly designed aircraft at higher and higher speeds to help scientists and engineers gain critical knowledge about transonic and supersonic flight.

Only 6 years later, Chuck Yeager flew another Bell-designed rocket plane at more than twice the speed of sound.

A veteran of the Second World War, General Yeager flew P-51 Mustangs in the European theater. He ended the war credited with 61 missions and 11.5 shootdowns of enemy aircraft, including five kills in just 1 day. He was himself shot down over France, and with the help of the French Resistance, was able to make his way back to England where he continued flying against the Axis powers.

In the years following his historic flight, General Yeager continued an illustrious career in the Air Force. Among other accomplishments, he was the first commanding officer of the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School and a commander of fighter wings and squadrons in Germany and southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. He also continued to work for NASA as a consulting test pilot.

On the 50th anniversary of his supersonic flight in 1997, General Yeager, then 74, piloted an Air Force F-15 Eagle past mach 1.

General Yeager is a native of West Virginia and today resides in California. He's a gifted pilot who spent his career in service to his country, sometimes at extreme risk, defending our shores and advancing our understanding of aeronautics.

Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to be a cosponsor and supporter of H. Res. 736, commemorating the 60th anniversary of General Yeager's first flight exceeding the speed of sound. And with that, I would urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution.

I am an original cosponsor of H. Res. 736 because it is important to recognize one of the amazing achievements of the Nation's aeronautics R&D enterprise.

I also think it important to honor Captain Yeager and the other brave test pilots who have helped push back the boundaries of flight--with results that have benefited our security, our economic well-being, and our quality of life.

As Chairman of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the Science and Technology Committee, I am well aware that this amazing achievement was not an isolated event. It is just one thrilling chapter in the great story of American aviation and aerospace.

I am pleased that our predecessors in Congress recognized the importance of aeronautics, and invested in it.

Americans were drawn to the challenges of advancing the state of aeronautics, and they gave much of their discipline and intelligence to overcome seemingly insurmountable technical obstacles.

At times, bravery was required, too, and the breaking of the sound barrier is a good example of that.

Today we honor the 60th anniversary of Captain Chuck Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier, but we also take inspiration from it to renew our commitment to ensuring that America remains preeminent in aeronautics R&D.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.