ENROLLED
       2010 Legislature                                          SM 944
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                              2010944er
    1  
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to direct that one of the retiring
    4         space shuttle orbiters be preserved and placed on
    5         permanent display at the Kennedy Space Center.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, the space shuttle program was a technical
    8  milestone, producing the first reusable orbital spacecraft, and
    9  has been the mainstay of the nation’s manned space flight
   10  program, and
   11         WHEREAS, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
   12  launched the first space shuttle mission in 1981 from the
   13  Kennedy Space Center, the location from which all subsequent
   14  missions have been launched, and
   15         WHEREAS, since 1981, there have been over 125 shuttle
   16  missions, with the last planned shuttle flight scheduled for
   17  launch from the Kennedy Space Center in September 2010, and
   18         WHEREAS, in fiscal year 2008, the space shuttle program was
   19  responsible for approximately 15 percent of the Kennedy Space
   20  Center’s budget allocation, and more than 40,000 jobs in this
   21  state are estimated to be attributable to the space center’s
   22  operations, an indication that, in addition to its historical
   23  importance, the shuttle program has been of significant economic
   24  importance to Floridians, and
   25         WHEREAS, after the tragic losses of Challenger in 1986 and
   26  Columbia in 2003, three orbiters remain in the shuttle fleet:
   27  Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavor, NOW, THEREFORE,
   28  
   29  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   30  
   31         That the Legislature requests the United States Congress to
   32  direct that one of the retiring space shuttle orbiters be
   33  preserved and placed on permanent display at the Kennedy Space
   34  Center.
   35         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   36  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   37  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   38  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   39  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.