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Well, we're going to get started.

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Thank you so much for coming out
to this dedication ceremony.

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I want to do a very special welcome
to our former Johnson director, Mr.

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Jerry Griffin.

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We also have Mr.

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George Abbey with us as well.

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This is a special day for us here
at the Johnson Space Center

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as we're going to be celebrating
our 60th anniversary.

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We kicked it off earlier with the panel
of former senator directors,

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and we're going to have a family
celebration tonight at the gill roof,

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where we're going to have our community
come together

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to celebrate Johnson Space Center

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Right now,
you know, we're celebrating Jesse

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we were founded back in 1961.

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President Kennedy committed the nation
to achieve the goal of landing

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a man on the moon and returning him safely
to earth before the end of the decade.

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And at that time, NASA's space task group

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in charge of America's
human spaceflight program

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was already working on Project Mercury
to put astronauts into Earth orbit.

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But with the additional
task of a human lunar landing, it soon

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after its facilities at NASA's Langley
Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

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And the agency decided it needed
a dedicated field for human spaceflight.

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And so on September 19th 1961

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after evaluating multiple sites
around the country

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NASA announced that the new manned space
flight center would be built near Houston.

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And that's the origins of our home.

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We were later renamed to the Johnson
Space Center in honor of former

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president Lyndon Johnson in 1973.

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But from the Mercury Gemini
Apollo and shuttle programs

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to the International Space Station
and Orion the center has been

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the forefront of America's
human spaceflight programs.

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Today
we're here to commemorate this legacy.

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Thanks to the members of the Manned
Spaceflight Operations Association

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who have donated a trio of benches

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in honor of the support

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that was given by human
spaceflight control teams of the past.

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These
Granite Benches were privately funded

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by 98 of the nonprofit organizations
members and installed here.

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We're thankful

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to the Manned Spaceflight Operations
Association for dedicating these benches

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in honor of the flight control teams
who captured the world's attention

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and demonstrated the power of America's
vision and technology

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through many historic
missions spanning Gemini to shuttle.

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These benches will serve as a constant
reminder of this lasting legacy

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as we work to inspire
the next generation of explorers

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with our International Space Station
and with our ARTEMUS program.

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Now I'm going to us offer the stage to Mr.

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Jerry Griffin, who will give some remarks.

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And thank you, Vanessa.

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This has been a day
that is taking all to get here for

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for a bunch of guys that just had an idea.

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And that bunch of people
were in the manned space Flight Operations

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Association.

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We referred to it
sometimes as MSL, a shorter

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Johnson Space Center did an amazing job

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on the restoration of the marker

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on the third floor here
that that many of these missions

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were falling from all of these
and several of those

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When that was finished, by the way,
that was Sandra

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Bentley is standing right here
and she was a moving force

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early on
and kept hammering on the door and

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and of different people here at the center
and and really got it done.

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Then the Webster community and others
around here funded the rest of that.

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What we we thought of them as a way.

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I'm former director now director
emeritus of the organization.

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We have three members here.

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I think we got Bill Reeves and we've got
Spencer Gardiner and we've got Jerry Ross.

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I think that's all that's here.

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We got to

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thinking that, you know,
we pay tribute to the facility

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and restored it to what it was like
the day we walked out of it.

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And we said, you know what?

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We haven't recognized the people
that passed through these portals

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and by the way, it involves more.

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When Vanessa says flight control, it
was all of his flight operations sitting.

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Clearly, the people over in an adjacent
building in Building 45

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called the Mission Evaluation Room,
which was our savior

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when we had a problem in the motor

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flight crew.

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People that passed through here,

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lots of people, lots of government
people was a contractor people.

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So we've got we don't charge any dues.

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We got over 6000 members.

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We haven't located all of them,
but we've got a good chunk of them.

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And when it came time to do something,
we started

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digging in ideas of what we might do.

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And we had a monument
and I and we've looked at things

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that almost were as big as the T-38s out
in front of Space Center Houston.

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And then we looked at

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all kinds of other things that would have
every name that we can identify.

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Well,
those got to be a little bit too much.

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So we turn to Gene Kranz

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was on our board, and

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he actually is a member of an organization
called Super Saver.

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And that was there for 100 guys
that flew in the mid fifties.

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And they've got a similar arrangement

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to this for the different outfits
at the Wright-Patterson U.S.

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Air Force Museum.

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So it was really Gene's

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idea that maybe we could go

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something like that is low
profile, low maintenance

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and it would last for a long, long time.

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These are black granite and other durable

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up steps.

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JSC, again,

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we had to have a place to put it in.

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These things are 1500 pounds apiece
in the sidewalk, wouldn't carry them.

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So again, we got Sandra totally involved.

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And now the other people
I'm leaving people out here I know

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we JSC actually put this

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slab to their specifications which

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deep deepened the sidewalks and

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Bill Reeves,
our president of the association

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now was totally instrumental
in getting these things

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made and built
and shipped to us and all of that.

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So it was a real team effort.

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It kind of fits our partnership thing.

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We were talking about this morning

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on some of the space programs
where you get commercial guys.

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Well, in this case,
you had a nonprofit organization

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and had made these possible

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the manned spaceflight
organization is a must way,

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I should say, has a website,
and I invite you to see it when you can.

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You'll notice this ends with shuttle

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for those of you that have ever flown

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missions and fighter aircraft,

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we're in a fingertip position here.

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You got the lead here yet.

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Number two over here and number
three over here.

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We didn't do
I assess is still an operational program.

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That Generation

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will have their chance
to do something similar either

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on this side or other side of the building
or something sometime later

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so in the same of then Artemus,

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uh, Artemus will have his chance.

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So that's the story of the benches today.

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We want to dedicate these benches to the

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to the people that pass through here,
dedicate poems

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early to the Johnson Space Center
for your safekeeping.

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And and we look forward to

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having visitors look and question
what they are

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and and we're going to do something
for our entire organization later,

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probably in the summer.

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And we couldn't get them all here
even the people

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that live locally, if we had invited them,
we might have been overwhelmed.

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That was us.

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But we wanted to get this step
and dedicate this to JSC.

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And all the people that passed through
here.

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So thank you very much.

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And thank you, Jerry.

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And I want to thank all of the members
of the master.

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Okay.

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And also agree and for all of the people
that will come to visit

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as space center Houston visitors
come this way to go upstairs.

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They will get an opportunity to see this
and to to remember and reflect

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on all of the support that was given
to make all of those missions possible.

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I want to also
thank you all for coming out and again,

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to those that are able to join us tonight
to join us for the 60th.

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And we will take some questions.

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Jerry and I will be available
for the media to take some questions

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for the next few minutes.

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Thank you

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and then I can
I want different things after

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for those years, for mercury generally,

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and even for this SDP and

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Skylab years.

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It was a young bunch

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thank goodness
we had some astronomers in our midst.

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It's a physicist to make sure I can.

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Answer.

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That doesn't like for you want

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you want to be a little more.

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You know I don't know some.

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Pretty good collection
for sure is the one.

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I know you know to make the case.