HR 13

WHEREAS, The California aerospace industry is a powerful, reliable source of employment, innovation, and export income, directly employing more than 203,000 people in California and supporting more than 511,000 jobs in related fields resulting in $2.9 billion in annual state income tax revenues; and

WHEREAS, The California aerospace industry leads the United States in aerospace and defense services, including the design and manufacture of aircraft, spacecraft, and commercial satellites, as well as a myriad of systems and instruments for search, detection, navigation, guidance, and radio and television broadcast and wireless communication systems; and

WHEREAS, California is home to many superb sites of air and space activity, including Vandenberg Air Force Base, two Federal Aviation Administration-licensed launch sites, the Mojave Air and Spaceport, more than 20 astronomical observatories, multiple international airports, many important defense aerospace bases, and hundreds of business and general aviation airfields; and

WHEREAS, California is also home to three National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research and engineering centers. These centers are recognized as the Ames Research Center, the NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, formerly known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Ames Research Center and the NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center were originally National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) research centers, formerly known as the NACA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory and the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station, respectively. March 3, 2015, marks the Centennial of the NACA; and

WHEREAS, California has led the nation in aeronautical firsts and Californias aerospace industry produced many of the significant and record-breaking aircraft that are now represented in the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum. The Spirit of St. Louis, which in 1927 made the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, was designed and built in California by Ryan Airlines and made Charles Lindbergh an international hero. The Douglas DC-3, recognized as the most successful airliner in history, dominating both commercial and military air transportation from its introduction in 1935 until after World War II, was designed and built in California by the Douglas Aircraft Company. The Space Shuttle was designed, built, assembled, and tested in California. California is home to Edwards Air Force Base, the site of five test flights of the Shuttle Enterprise, the landing site of 54 Space Shuttle missions, and the site of the 199 X-15 missions; and

WHEREAS, Edwards Air Force Base, known for its notable aeronautical achievements, was the location of many first flights of American aircraft, shuttles, and experimental jets flown from Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert of Kern County. Americas first jet, XP-59A, was first flown in California. General Charles Chuck Yeager made world history in California on October 14, 1947, when he became the first man to fly Mach 1, faster than the speed of sound, while piloting the Bell X-1 rocket plane. The rocket powered X-15, flown by former State Senator William J. Pete Knight, attained a speed of Mach 6.7 (4,520 miles per hour), a speed that remains, to this day, the highest ever attained in a manned aircraft. The Rutan Model 76 Voyager was the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling; and

WHEREAS, California has led the nation in firsts in human space exploration, including the manufacture of the Apollo 11 command module that carried the first humans to the surface of our moon; the manufacture and landing of the Space Shuttle orbiters, the first reusable space vehicles, which include the Endeavour, on display at the California Science Center; and the manufacture and recovery of the SpaceX Dragon capsule and Falcon launch vehicle, the first privately funded space exploration system. SpaceShipOne, winner of the $10 million Ansari X Prize, the Collier Trophy in 2004, and the National Air and Space Museum Trophy, was designed, built, and flown in Mojave, California. SpaceShipOne produced the first commercial astronaut, Mike Melvill, who was the pilot for SpaceShipOnes first spaceflight on June 21, 2004, which was the first privately funded human spaceflight mission to reach space; and

WHEREAS, California has led the nation in firsts in robotic space exploration, including the Explorer 1 Earth observation satellite as Americas first successful spacecraft, the Mariner 2 as the first spacecraft to explore another planet, the Viking landers as the first spacecrafts to perform experiments on another planet, and the development of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft as the first to exit our solar system; and

WHEREAS, Californians, through NASA and JPL, build, manage, and operate the majority of the spacecraft exploring our solar system, including the most recent Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, and those spacecraft exploring other solar systems, like the Kepler exoplanet discovery mission, as well as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which has reached full operational capability and now serves as a world class observatory, giving scientists an unprecedented view directly into the center of our own galaxy. SOFIA administers the Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program for educators who have inspired the dreams of California youth; and

WHEREAS, California aerospace industries assemble the legendary Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, build the impressive Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Unmanned Aircraft Systems, engineer radical new aircraft at the famous Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Advanced Development Programs facility, and create systems that assist and protect members of the United States Armed Forces through military communications, situational awareness, satellite-guided ordnance, and technologies yet to be dreamed of; and

WHEREAS, California will continue to lead in aerospace education, through its superb Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education programs and at its world-class research universities, and thus will continue to lead the world with the innovation that enabled advanced meteorological forecasting, the Global Positioning System, NextGen tools for air traffic management, green aviation, sophisticated wind tunnels and test facilities, and advanced supercomputing and robotics; and

WHEREAS, The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Aerospace States Association (ASA), California Chapter, are sponsoring a week of events to highlight the contributions of the aerospace community to California; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly recognizes the contributions of the aerospace industry to the history, economy, security, and educational system of California, its communities, and its citizens by proclaiming the week of March 23, 2015, through March 27, 2015, as California Aerospace Week; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.