To redesignate the Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range.

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

Madam Speaker, all Americans can recite those famous words uttered by Neil Armstrong 43 years ago as he became the first human to walk on the Moon. Those words, as all Americans know were, ``That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.''

In an effort to recognize that great man, H.R. 6612 has been offered to redesignate the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center. The bill would also rename the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range.

While I plan to support it, this is a bill that is a bit unfortunate since it honors one aerospace pioneer by stripping away the honor previously extended to another worthy pioneer. Both are worthy of recognition. Their accomplishments at NASA and for the Nation are without parallel.

Dr. Hugh Latimer Dryden was director of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics from 1947 until the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and was named deputy administrator of the new aerospace agency when it was created in response to the Sputnik crisis.

Dr. Dryden made numerous technical contributions to research in high- speed aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, and acoustics, and published more than 100 technical papers and articles in professional journals. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, was named in honor of him on March 26, 1976. The center is NASA's premier site for aeronautical flight research.

Neil Armstrong joined NACA, the advisory committee, in 1955 following his service as a naval aviator. Over the next 17 years, he was an engineer, test pilot, astronaut, and administrator for the committee and its successor agency, NASA.

As a research pilot, he flew over 200 different models of aircraft, such as the storied X-15. He transferred to astronaut status in 1962, and was command pilot for the Gemini VIII mission when he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, Neil Armstrong inspired millions around the world. He inspired me. And he passed away just this past August.

Madam Speaker, it's clear that Neil Armstrong never sought the honor of having a NASA center named after him while he was alive. And the truth is, his name is going to live long throughout history whether or not we ever name anything for him. I expect that today we will approve this legislation, and that's fine. But I hope that all the Members who vote to honor him today will remember his testimony before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. I know that our chairman, Mr. Hall, will remember that during that testimony he argued eloquently for the critical importance of giving NASA a sustainable future and a human exploration program that can once again inspire our children and humanity around the world.

It seems rather extraordinary that even as we're honoring our hero, Neil Armstrong, that we face a situation where NASA's budget would be decimated, gutting the very programs that Neil Armstrong felt so passionately about. And if the same Members who vote to honor him today will commit to working in the coming months and years for those exploration goals, to those heights to which he devoted the last years of his life, then we will have truly honored Neil Armstrong in an enduring and meaningful way.

And with that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).

Madam Speaker, I'd like to inquire of Mr. Hall as to whether he has additional speakers; otherwise, I'm ready to close.

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

It seems so fitting that we're here today to recognize Neil Armstrong. And I want to thank Mr. Hall both for his leadership of our Science Committee and the opportunity that we've had to work together. He is a good friend. I look forward to working with our new chairman, Mr. Smith, in the next Congress.

And it seems that we will have an opportunity to work on the things that Neil Armstrong believed in and felt so passionately about: about making sure that the United States remains at the top of the leader board when it comes to space exploration; making certain that, as he expressed in our committee, NASA remains at the forefront of our technology development, of our research, of our capacity.

There are few of us who will get to see or to know what Neil Armstrong saw and knew. There are few of us, though we want to, who will be able to see the universe in the kind of way that Neil Armstrong did. But what we do know is that we have the ability here in this Congress and in future Congresses to actually preserve what it is that we do in space and how we use technology, and that we build on the great promise of Hugh Dryden and Neil Armstrong and our great capacity as a Nation for research and development and technology.

I know that our leaders will be committed to preserving the names of these great heroes in the work that we do in the future, for our children and for generations to come.

It also seems very fitting that in honoring Neil Armstrong--and I will just say personally, there are few opportunities here in the Congress where you feel like you really get to both touch the past and look to the future, and for me, that came in just being able to meet and to talk with Neil Armstrong when he came before our committee, Mr. Chairman.

And I will say, having watched all of those missions as a little girl sitting in front of a black-and-white television, in a classroom, seeing the promise and capacity of our universe and our scientific endeavors and creation, that Neil Armstrong was at the center of that. And so I am pleased that we're able to honor him today, but I hope that we can honor him and his legacy in the future with the work that we do to preserve the great work that's done at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for all of our future generations.

To the chairman, I know that, to Chairman Hall, Neil Armstrong was a special friend of his as well and quite an inspiration, but an inspiration for generations. And so it gives me great pleasure to be able to present H.R. 6612 in renaming the Dryden Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Center, and I look forward to continuing to support the great work of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6612) to redesignate the Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members shall have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6612, the bill now under consideration.

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

I want to begin by thanking, as I should, the Members for their bipartisan support of the legislation. H.R. 6612 would redesignate the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight Research Center, which is co-located with the Edwards Air Force Base in the Antelope Valley of California, as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center. The bill would also rename the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range. This is very appropriate; they were very dear friends.

Neil Armstrong needs no introduction. Actually, this bill was introduced by his congressman, Kevin McCarthy, the congressman where the redesignation will take place. The gentleman from California is the majority whip, but Neil Armstrong absolutely needs no introduction. He's an iconic American hero, and one of the most humble men I've ever met. He was quiet, thoughtful, and deliberate, choosing his words carefully, whether it was testifying before a congressional committee, giving a speech, or sharing a quiet movement with a friend. He did not exaggerate, and always, always gave recognition to the teams of engineers, technicians, and scientists at NASA and in industry when speaking

about the success of the Apollo 11 mission. He refused to take personal credit for his accomplishments.

Naming the flight center after Neil is very appropriate. After graduating from college, Neil joined NASA's predecessor agency, the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics, and soon found himself at NACA's High Speed Flight Station located at Edwards, which in time would become the Dryden Flight Research Center. He spent 7 years there flying a variety of new design and high-performance aircraft, including seven flights at the controls of the X-15.

Neil was a good friend, and is sorely missed by me and by all of the people he touched during his long and active life. He is survived by his wife, Carol; his two sons, Mark and Rick; a stepson and a stepdaughter; 10 grandchildren; and a brother and sister.

The bill also names the Western Aeronautical Test Range after Dr. Hugh L. Dryden. He held the position of director of the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics from 1947 until it was renamed NASA in 1958, and was deputy director of NASA until his death in 1965.

Dr. Dryden did pioneering research on airfoils near the speed of sound and the problems of airflow and turbulence. His work greatly contributed to the designs of wings for aircraft, including the P-51 Mustang and other World War II aircraft.

Before I close, I want to tell something that was rather interesting. President Clinton, I think it was on the 25th anniversary, invited Neil to speak, knowing that he probably wouldn't speak because he had indicated that he would not. But he left an empty chair for him on the stage. And as we got through the ceremony, Neil walked in. And the President, good natured, said, Well, I said you wouldn't speak, but here's the microphone.

Neil took the microphone and said, The parrot is the only bird that can fly and speak, and I can do the same.

Then he sat down, and it brought the house down.

I urge Members to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the very capable majority whip, the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy).

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Lamar Smith, who, on the 3rd day of January will be the chairman of Science, Space, and Technology for many, many years.

No, we do not have additional speakers.

Madam Speaker, before I close, I'd just like to thank Jay Pierson, who plans to retire at the end of this year, for his many, many years of service to this House. He's been very helpful to me, to my staff, and to other staffs. He'll be sorely missed.

With that, Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, to the committee, thank you for your work, and especially to Chairman Hall for his tenure on the committee and his history-making here in Congress. I thank you.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6612 to honor two great pioneers in American aeronautics and space exploration, Dr. Hugh Dryden and astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Some of us here today can remember the pride every American felt in the summer of 1969 when we heard Neil Armstrong utter those famous words, ``that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,'' when he led the Apollo 11 mission and landed on the Moon.

Before this incredible trip, Armstrong served as a test pilot for 7 years at what is presently called the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in Kern County, California, which I'm proud to represent.

Armstrong accumulated 2,400 hours of flying as a test pilot there, mainly in experimental jets. He was also part of the team in the early 1960s that researched how to land on the Moon using the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle.

After the success of Apollo 11, Armstrong became NASA's deputy associate administrator for aeronautics. Under Armstrong's leadership, the center had one of its most far-reaching technological breakthroughs in a concept called digital fly-by-wire, the precursor to computerized flight control systems used on nearly all military and civilian high- performance aircraft, including the space shuttles.

At NASA's Dryden 50th anniversary, Armstrong said in his speech: ``My years here were wonderful years. Dryden was a most unusual place--its enormous curiosity, wonderful intensity, and its unbelievable willingness to attempt the impossible here.''

H.R. 6612 would rename the center in his honor the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center.

The bill would also honor Dr. Hugh Dryden's contributions to aerospace engineering, some that made Neil Armstrong's achievements possible.

Dr. Dryden was an early pioneer in aerodynamics and helped with many scientific breakthroughs, including the X-15 aircraft that launched some test pilots to careers as astronauts, including Neil Armstrong.

Dr. Dryden was chosen to be NASA's first deputy administrator in 1958, placing him in charge of the programs that allowed the Agency to send those three brave men to the Moon in 1969. Dr. Dryden passed away in 1965, just a few years before his work was fulfilled and Armstrong took that first small step.

H.R. 6612 will memorialize both men by redesignating the Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Western Aeronautic Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range.

Edwards Air Force Base, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, and the NASA Flight Research Center in east Kern County remain a hub of scientific discovery, aeronautical innovation, and space exploration. I look forward to many more groundbreaking achievements from the men and women inspired by the legacy of Neil Armstrong and Hugh Dryden.

Madam Speaker, I will insert the following letters of support for my bill into the Record. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas, the chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee for yielding me time.

Madam Speaker, first I want to thank the gentleman from California, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, for honoring both Neil Armstrong and NASA Deputy Administrator Hugh Dryden with this bill.

Not many people know the relationship between these two men. Hugh Dryden was the visionary behind NASA's X-15 rocket plane and the Apollo program, and Neil Armstrong was the one who actually flew the spacecraft that Dryden envisioned.

The X-15 rocket plane set many speed and altitude records in the early 1960s. Hugh Dryden was the engineer and program manager for that spacecraft, which Neil Armstrong flew seven times.

While everyone knows that Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the Moon, not many people know Hugh Dryden's role. The Soviets launched the first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957, and Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in April 1961.

President John F. Kennedy was looking for a way to demonstrate American ingenuity and technical superiority over the Soviet Union, so he convened the National Space Council and asked for their advice on the best way for America to respond to the Soviets' string of firsts in space exploration. Hugh Dryden was the person in that meeting who recommended to the President that the goal of putting a person on the Moon within 10 years was achievable and something the American people could rally behind. The rest is history. President Kennedy grabbed Hugh Dryden's idea and addressed a joint session of Congress the very next month.

The Apollo program was the brainchild of Hugh Dryden, and Neil Armstrong turned that dream into reality by making that ``one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'' on another world almost 240,000 miles away. Hugh Dryden was not able to see his dream become reality, as he died in 1965, and, unfortunately, Neil Armstrong passed away last August.

It is important for us to honor both men's legacies by naming the flight research center after Neil Armstrong and the surrounding test range after Hugh Dryden. With this bill, we reaffirm that America is filled with dreamers like Hugh Dryden and doers like Neil Armstrong, who, working together, can shoot for the Moon.

Again, Madam Speaker, I want to thank Congressman McCarthy for honoring their legacy, which reminds us that America always needs to think about new frontiers.

Madam Speaker, I proudly stand with my good friend and fellow Californian, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, in strong support of legislation we have both championed, H.R. 6612, which will redesignate NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range.

One of the greatest benefits of public service in U.S. House of Representatives is the people that you meet from all walks of life.

I had the very high honor and privilege of meeting Mr. Armstrong on several occasions before he passed away on August 25, 2012.

Given his place as a revered global icon, Neil never sought the limelight and never lost his unassuming nature or the Midwestern values that his Ohio roots instilled in him.

Those of us who were old enough to witness first hand when he took his first step on the surface of the moon will never forget the great sense of pride in our country and inspiration in the ability of mankind.

There are few events in history that have had such a profound and positive impact, transcending generations across the globe.

H.R. 6612 is just one way we can pay tribute to this great American hero.

The bill will accomplish three important goals: (1) to honor Neil A. Armstrong, who served as an experimental research test pilot at the center from 1955 to 1962; (2) to emphasize the contributions of that center to NASA's current space exploration mission; and (3) to memorialize the extraordinary career of Dr. Hugh L. Dryden by naming the aeronautical

test range, approximately 12,000 square miles of special use airspace in his honor.

I urge my House colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 6612.