Amended in Assembly March 17, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 43

Introduced by Assembly Member O'Donnell

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(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Hadley)

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March 9, 2015

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 43—Relative to California Aerospace Week.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 43, as amended, O'Donnell. California Aerospace Week.

This measure would recognize 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.

Fiscal committee: no.

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WHEREAS, The California aerospace industry is a powerful,
reliable source of employment, innovation, and export income,
directly employing more than 200,000 people in California and
supporting more than 307,000 jobs in related fields; 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); and

WHEREAS, California has led the nation in aeronautical firsts
and California’s aerospace industry produced many of the
significant and record-breaking aircraft that are now represented
in The Smithsonian Institution’s 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. America’s
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; and

WHEREAS, California has led the nation in firsts in robotic
space exploration, including the Explorer 1 Earth observation
satellite as America’s 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 SOFIA,
the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, that
administers the Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program for
educators who have inspired the dreams of California youth; and

WHEREAS, California aerospace industries 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), in conjunction with the Aerospace States
Association (ASA), California Chapter, is sponsoring events to
highlight the contributions of the aerospace community to
California, including panel discussions and educational displays
during March 2015; now, therefore, be it

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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

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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

end insert begin insert

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

end insert begin insert

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); and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, California has led the nation in aeronautical firsts
and California’s aerospace industry produced many of the
significant and record-breaking aircraft that are now represented
in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.
The Spirit of St. Louis, which in 1927 performed the first solo
nonstop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, France, 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

end insert begin insert

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. America’s
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

end insert begin insert

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. The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft will make its 5th
commercial cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station
in 2015; and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, California has led the nation in firsts in robotic
space exploration, including the Explorer 1 Earth observation
satellite as America’s 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

end insert begin insert

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 SOFIA,
the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, that
administers the Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program for
educators who have inspired the dreams of California youth; and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, Sally Kristen Ride, Ph.D., who was born in
California, stands in history as a pioneer in space exploration and
academia, and serves as a role model for others, by virtue of having
been the first American woman and the youngest person to go into
space when she traveled aboard the Challenger spacecraft on June
18, 1983; and

end insert begin insert

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 Armed Forces
of the United States through military communications, situational
awareness, satellite-guided ordnance, and technologies yet to be
dreamed of; and

end insert begin insert

WHEREAS, Los Angeles Air Force Base, home of the Space and
Missile System Center (SMC) since 1962, carries out vitally
important work, including managing research, development, and
acquisition of aerospace technology for military space systems,
and continues to be an irreplaceable economic hub and center of
military space acquisition excellence for the nation; and

end insert begin insert

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

end insert begin insert

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

end insert

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature 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.