Nick Lampson Statement on NASA’s Successful Curiosity Landing on Mars
Congratulations to NASA and all of the men and women who worked tirelessly to make the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft and its Curiosity rover a success.
At 12:30 a.m. CDT, when Curiosity completed its 352 million mile, 36-week journey from earth to Mars, I was reminded how proud I am to be a long time advocate of NASA and space exploration. NASA showed us once again that dreams can become reality when Curiosity reached the top of the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph before being successfully lowered into the Gale Crater.
As we progress through the 21st century, we must work to maintain our role as the technology leader in the world, and inspire the next generation of our children to study science, math, engineering and technology. Today, with NASA’s triumphant success, we took a giant step in the right direction.