On September 14, 1965, the House welcomed Gemini 5 astronauts L. Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad, Jr., back to Earth after an eight-day orbital flight. The trip, at that point the longest manned space flight in history, was designed to gauge the feasibility of making a trip to the moon. Cooper opined on the grandeur of space, saying that it "made a man feel small and insignificant," while Conrad concluded briskly that he was "ready to fly again."
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “Gemini 5 Astronauts Address Congress,” http://history.house.gov/Collection/Detail/30375 (March 03, 2013)
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