IIB 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3070 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 25, 2005 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To reauthorize the human space flight, aeronautics, and 

science programs of the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘National Aeronautics and Space Administration Author4 ization Act of 2005’’. 

5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

6 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

TITLE I—GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND REPORTS 

Sec. 101. Responsibilities, policies, and plans. 

Sec. 102. Reports. 

Sec. 103. Baselines and cost controls. 

Sec. 104. Prize authority. 

Sec. 105. Foreign launch vehicles. 

Sec. 106. Safety management. 

Sec. 107. Lessons learned and best practices. 

Sec. 108. Commercialization plan. 

Sec. 109. Study on the feasibility of use of ground source heat pumps. 

Sec. 110. Space shuttle return to flight. 

Sec. 111. Whistleblower protection. 

TITLE II—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 

Sec. 201. Structure of budgetary accounts. 

Sec. 202. Fiscal year 2006. 

Sec. 203. Fiscal year 2007. 

Sec. 204. ISS research. 

Sec. 205. Test facilities. 

Sec. 206. Proportionality. 

Sec. 207. Limitations on authority. 

Sec. 208. Notice of reprogramming. 

Sec. 209. Cost overruns. 

Sec. 210. Official representational fund. 

Sec. 211. International Space Station cost cap. 

TITLE III—SCIENCE 

Subtitle A—General Provisions 

Sec. 301. Performance assessments. 

Sec. 302. Status report on Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. 

Sec. 303. Independent assessment of Landsat-NPOESS integrated mission. 

Sec. 304. Assessment of science mission extensions. 

Sec. 305. Microgravity research. 

Sec. 306. Coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
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Subtitle B—Remote Sensing 

Sec. 311. Definitions. 

Sec. 312. Pilot projects to encourage public sector applications. 

Sec. 313. Program evaluation. 

Sec. 314. Data availability. 

Sec. 315. Education. 

Subtitle C—George E. Brown, Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey 

Sec. 321. George E. Brown, Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey. 

TITLE IV—AERONAUTICS 

Sec. 401. Definition. 

Subtitle A—National Policy for Aeronautics Research and Development 

Sec. 411. Policy. 

Subtitle B—NASA Aeronautics Breakthrough Research Initiatives 

Sec. 421. Environmental aircraft research and development initiative. 

Sec. 422. Civil supersonic transport research and development initiative. 

Sec. 423. Rotorcraft and other runway-independent air vehicles research and 

development initiative. 

Subtitle C—Other NASA Aeronautics Research and Development Activities 

Sec. 431. Fundamental research and technology base program. 

Sec. 432. Airspace systems research. 

Sec. 433. Aviation safety and security research. 

Sec. 434. Zero-emissions aircraft research. 

Sec. 435. Mars aircraft research. 

Sec. 436. Hypersonics research. 

Sec. 437. NASA aeronautics scholarships. 

Sec. 438. Aviation weather research. 

Sec. 439. Assessment of wake turbulence research and development program. 

Sec. 440. University-based centers. 

TITLE V—HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT 

Sec. 501. International Space Station completion. 

Sec. 502. Human exploration priorities. 

Sec. 503. GAO assessment. 

TITLE VI—OTHER PROGRAM AREAS 

Subtitle A—Space and Flight Support 

Sec. 601. Orbital debris. 

Sec. 602. Secondary payload capability. 

Subtitle B—Education 

Sec. 611. Institutions in NASA’s minority institutions program. 

Sec. 612. Program to expand distance learning in rural underserved areas. 

Sec. 613. Charles ‘‘Pete’’ Conrad Astronomy Awards. 

Sec. 614. Review of education programs. 
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Sec. 615. Equal access to NASA’s education programs. 

Sec. 616. Museums. 

Sec. 617. Review of MUST program. 

TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS 

Sec. 701. Retrocession of jurisdiction. 

Sec. 702. Extension of indemnification. 

Sec. 703. NASA scholarships. 

Sec. 704. Independent cost analysis. 

Sec. 705. Limitations on off-shore performance of contracts for the procurement of goods and services. 

Sec. 706. Long duration flight. 

TITLE VIII—INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONS 

Sec. 801. Definitions. 

Subtitle A—International Space Station Independent Safety Commission 

Sec. 811. Establishment of Commission. 

Sec. 812. Tasks of the Commission. 

Sec. 813. Sunset. 

Subtitle B—Human Space Flight Independent Investigation Commission 

Sec. 821. Establishment of Commission. 

Sec. 822. Tasks of the Commission. 

Subtitle C—Organization and Operation of Commissions 

Sec. 831. Composition of Commissions. 

Sec. 832. Powers of Commission. 

Sec. 833. Public meetings, information, and hearings. 

Sec. 834. Staff of Commission. 

Sec. 835. Compensation and travel expenses. 

Sec. 836. Security clearances for Commission members and staff. 

Sec. 837. Reporting requirements and termination. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) On January 14, 2004, the President un4 veiled the Vision for Space Exploration to guide 

5 United States policy on human space exploration. 

6 (2) The President’s vision of returning humans 

7 to the Moon and working toward a sustainable 

8 human presence there and then venturing further 
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1 into the solar system provides a sustainable rationale 

2 for the United States human space flight program. 

3 (3) As we enter the Second Space Age, the Na4 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration should 

5 continue to support robust programs in space 

6 science, aeronautics, and earth science as it moves 

7 forward with plans to send Americans to the Moon, 

8 Mars, and worlds beyond. 

9 (4) The National Aeronautics and Space Ad10 ministration’s programs can advance the frontiers of 

11 science, expanding understanding of our planet and 

12 of the universe, and contribute to American pros13 perity. 

14 (5) The United States should honor its inter15 national commitments to the International Space 

16 Station program. 

17 (6) The United States must remain the leader 

18 in aeronautics and aviation. Any erosion of this pre19 eminence is not in the Nation’s economic or security 

20 interests. Past Federal investments in aeronautics 

21 research and development have benefited the econ22 omy and national security of the United States and 

23 improved the quality of life of its citizens. 

24 (7) Long-term progress in aeronautics and 

25 space requires continued Federal investment in fun-
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1 damental research, test facilities, and maintenance 

2 of a skilled civil service workforce at NASA’s Cen3 ters. 

4 (8) An important part of NASA’s mission is 

5 education and outreach. 

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis9 trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 

10 Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

11 (2) ISS.—The term ‘‘ISS’’ means the Inter12 national Space Station. 

13 (3) NASA.—The term ‘‘NASA’’ means the Na14 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

15 TITLE I—GENERAL PRINCIPLES 

16 AND REPORTS 

17 SEC. 101. RESPONSIBILITIES, POLICIES, AND PLANS. 

18 (a) GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

19 (1) PROGRAMS.—The Administrator shall en20 sure that NASA carries out a balanced set of pro21 grams that shall include, at a minimum, programs 

22 in— 

23 (A) human space flight, in accordance with 

24 subsection (b); 
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1 (B) aeronautics research and development; 

2 and 

3 (C) scientific research, which shall include, 

4 at a minimum— 

5 (i) robotic missions to study planets, 

6 and to deepen understanding of astronomy, 

7 astrophysics, and other areas of science 

8 that can be productively studied from 

9 space; 

10 (ii) earth science research and re11 search on the Sun-Earth connection 

12 through the development and operation of 

13 research satellites and other means; 

14 (iii) support of university research in 

15 space science, earth science and micro16 gravity science. 

17 (iv) research on microgravity, includ18 ing research that is not directly related to 

19 human exploration. 

20 (2) CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—In 

21 carrying out the programs of NASA, the Adminis22 trator shall— 

23 (A) consult and coordinate to the extent 

24 appropriate with other relevant Federal agen-
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1 cies, including through the National Science 

2 and Technology Council; 

3 (B) work closely with the private sector, 

4 including by— 

5 (i) encouraging the work of entre6 preneurs who are seeking to develop new 

7 means to launch satellites, crew, or cargo; 

8 (ii) contracting with the private sector 

9 for crew and cargo services to the extent 

10 practicable; and 

11 (iii) using commercially available 

12 products (including software) and services 

13 to the extent practicable to support all 

14 NASA activities; and 

15 (C) involve other nations to the extent ap16 propriate. 

17 (b) VISION FOR SPACE EXPLORATION.—The Admin18 istrator shall manage human space flight programs to 

19 strive to achieve the following goals: 

20 (1) Returning Americans to the Moon no later 

21 than 2020. 

22 (2) Launching the Crew Exploration Vehicle as 

23 close to 2010 as possible. 
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1 (3) Increasing knowledge of the impacts of long 

2 duration stays in space on the human body using the 

3 most appropriate facilities available. 

4 (4) Enabling humans to land on and return 

5 from Mars and other destinations on a timetable 

6 that is technically and fiscally possible. 

7 (c) AERONAUTICS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President of the United 

9 States, through the Administrator, and in consulta10 tion with other Federal agencies, shall develop a na11 tional aeronautics policy to guide the aeronautics 

12 programs of NASA through 2020. 

13 (2) CONTENT.—At a minimum, the national 

14 aeronautics policy shall describe for NASA— 

15 (A) the priority areas of research for aero16 nautics through fiscal year 2011; 

17 (B) the basis on which and the process by 

18 which priorities for ensuing fiscal years will be 

19 selected; 

20 (C) the facilities and personnel needed to 

21 carry out the aeronautics program through fis22 cal year 2011; and 

23 (D) the budget assumptions on which the 

24 national aeronautics policy is based, which for 

25 fiscal years 2006 and 2007 shall be the author-
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1 ized level for aeronautics provided in title II of 

2 this Act. 

3 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the na4 tional aeronautics policy, the President shall con5 sider the following issues, which shall be discussed 

6 in the transmittal under paragraph (5): 

7 (A) The extent to which NASA should 

8 focus on long-term, high-risk research or more 

9 incremental research, and the expected impact 

10 on the United States aircraft and airline indus11 tries of that decision. 

12 (B) The extent to which NASA should ad13 dress military and commercial needs. 

14 (C) How NASA will coordinate its aero15 nautics program with other Federal agencies. 

16 (D) The extent to which NASA will fund 

17 university research, and the expected impact of 

18 that funding on the supply of United States 

19 workers for the aeronautics industry. 

20 (E) The extent to which the priority areas 

21 of research listed pursuant to paragraph (2)(A) 

22 should include the activities authorized by title 

23 IV of this Act, the discussion of which shall in24 clude a priority ranking of all of the activities 
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1 authorized in title IV and an explanation for 

2 that ranking. 

3 (4) CONSULTATION.—In the development of the 

4 national aeronautics policy, the Administrator shall 

5 consult widely with academic and industry experts 

6 and with other Federal agencies. The Administrator 

7 may enter into an arrangement with the National 

8 Academy of Sciences to help develop the national 

9 aeronautics policy. 

10 (5) SCHEDULE.—The Administrator shall 

11 transmit the national aeronautics policy to the Com12 mittee on Appropriations and the Committee on 

13 Science of the House of Representatives, and to the 

14 Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on 

15 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen16 ate, not later than the date on which the President 

17 submits the proposed budget for the Federal Gov18 ernment for fiscal year 2007 to the Congress. The 

19 Administrator shall make available to those commit20 tees any study done by a nongovernmental entity 

21 that was used in the development of the national 

22 aeronautics policy. 

23 (d) SCIENCE.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall de2 velop a policy to guide the science programs of 

3 NASA through 2016. 

4 (2) CONTENT.—At a minimum, the policy shall 

5 describe— 

6 (A) the missions NASA will initiate, de7 sign, develop, launch, or operate in space 

8 science and earth science through fiscal year 

9 2016, including launch dates; 

10 (B) a priority ranking of all of the mis11 sions listed under subparagraph (A), and the 

12 rationale for the ranking; 

13 (C) the budget assumptions on which the 

14 policy is based, which for fiscal years 2006 and 

15 2007 shall be consistent with the authorizations 

16 provided in title II of this Act; and 

17 (D) the facilities and personnel needed to 

18 carry out the policy through fiscal year 2016. 

19 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the 

20 science policy under this subsection, the Adminis21 trator shall consider the following issues, which shall 

22 be discussed in the transmittal under paragraph (6): 

23 (A) What the most important scientific 

24 questions in space science and earth science 

25 are. 
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1 (B) The relationship between NASA’s 

2 space and earth science activities and those of 

3 other Federal agencies. 

4 (4) CONSULTATION.—In developing the policy 

5 under this subsection, the Administrator shall draw 

6 on decadal surveys and other reports in planetary 

7 science, astronomy, solar and space physics, earth 

8 science, and any other relevant fields developed by 

9 the National Academy of Sciences. The Adminis10 trator shall also consult widely with academic and 

11 industry experts and with other Federal agencies. 

12 (5) HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE.—The policy 

13 developed under this subsection shall address plans 

14 for a human mission to repair the Hubble Space 

15 Telescope consistent with section 302 of this Act. 

16 (6) SCHEDULE.—The Administrator shall 

17 transmit the policy developed under this subsection 

18 to the Committee on Science of the House of Rep19 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

20 Science, and Transportation of the Senate not later 

21 than the date on which the President submits the 

22 proposed budget for the Federal Government for fis23 cal year 2007 to the Congress. The Administrator 

24 shall make available to those committees any study 
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1 done by a nongovernmental entity that was used in 

2 the development of the policy. 

3 (e) FACILITIES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall de5 velop a plan for managing NASA’s facilities through 

6 fiscal year 2015. The plan shall be consistent with 

7 the policies and plans developed pursuant to this 

8 section. 

9 (2) CONTENT.—At a minimum, the plan shall 

10 describe— 

11 (A) any new facilities NASA intends to ac12 quire, whether through construction, purchase, 

13 or lease, and the expected dates for doing so; 

14 (B) any facilities NASA intends to signifi15 cantly modify, and the expected dates for doing 

16 so; 

17 (C) any facilities NASA intends to close, 

18 and the expected dates for doing so; 

19 (D) any transaction NASA intends to con20 duct to sell, lease, or otherwise transfer the 

21 ownership of a facility, and the expected dates 

22 for doing so; 

23 (E) how each of the actions described in 

24 subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) will en-
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1 hance the ability of NASA to carry out its pro2 grams; 

3 (F) the expected costs or savings expected 

4 from each of the actions described in subpara5 graphs (A), (B), (C), and (D); 

6 (G) the priority order of the actions de7 scribed in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and 

8 (D); 

9 (H) the budget assumptions of the plan, 

10 which for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 shall be 

11 consistent with the authorizations provided in 

12 title II of this Act; and 

13 (I) how facilities were evaluated in devel14 oping the plan. 

15 (3) SCHEDULE.—The Administrator shall 

16 transmit the plan developed under this subsection to 

17 the Committee on Science of the House of Rep18 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

19 Science, and Transportation of the Senate not later 

20 than the date on which the President submits the 

21 proposed budget for the Federal Government for fis22 cal year 2008 to the Congress. 

23 (f) WORKFORCE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall de25 velop a human capital strategy to ensure that NASA 
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1 has a workforce of the appropriate size and with the 

2 appropriate skills to carry out the programs of 

3 NASA, consistent with the policies and plans devel4 oped pursuant to this section. The strategy shall 

5 cover the period through fiscal year 2011. 

6 (2) CONTENT.—The strategy shall describe, at 

7 a minimum— 

8 (A) any categories of employees NASA in9 tends to reduce, the expected size and timing of 

10 those reductions, the methods NASA intends to 

11 use to make the reductions, and the reasons 

12 NASA no longer needs those employees; 

13 (B) any categories of employees NASA in14 tends to increase, the expected size and timing 

15 of those increases, the methods NASA intends 

16 to use to recruit the additional employees, and 

17 the reasons NASA needs those employees; 

18 (C) the steps NASA will use to retain 

19 needed employees; and 

20 (D) the budget assumptions of the strat21 egy, which for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 shall 

22 be consistent with the authorizations provided 

23 in title II of this Act, and any expected addi24 tional costs or savings from the strategy by fis25 cal year. 
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1 (3) SCHEDULE.—The Administrator shall 

2 transmit the strategy developed under this sub3 section to the Committee on Science of the House of 

4 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

5 Science, and Transportation of the Senate not later 

6 than the date on which the President submits the 

7 proposed budget for the Federal Government for fis8 cal year 2007 to the Congress. At least 60 days be9 fore transmitting the strategy, NASA shall provide 

10 a draft of the strategy to its Federal Employee 

11 Unions for a 30-day consultation period after which 

12 NASA shall respond in writing to any written con13 cerns provided by the Unions. 

14 (4) LIMITATION.—NASA may not initiate any 

15 buyout offer until 60 days after the strategy re16 quired by this subsection has been transmitted to 

17 the Congress in accordance with paragraph (3). 

18 NASA may not implement any Reduction in Force 

19 or other involuntary separations (except for cause) 

20 prior to February 16, 2007. 

21 (g) CENTER MANAGEMENT.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall con23 duct a study to determine whether any of NASA’s 

24 centers should be operated by or with the private 

25 sector by converting a center to a Federally Funded 
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1 Research and Development Center or through any 

2 other mechanism. 

3 (2) CONTENT.—The study shall, at a min4 imum— 

5 (A) make a recommendation for the oper6 ation of each center and provide reasons for 

7 that recommendation; and 

8 (B) describe the advantages and disadvan9 tages of each mode of operation considered in 

10 the study. 

11 (3) CONSIDERATIONS.—In conducting the 

12 study, the Administrator shall take into consider13 ation the experiences of other relevant Federal agen14 cies in operating laboratories and centers and any 

15 reports that have reviewed the mode of operation of 

16 those laboratories and centers, as well as any reports 

17 that have reviewed NASA’s centers. 

18 (4) SCHEDULE.—The Administrator shall 

19 transmit the study conducted under this subsection 

20 to the Committee on Science of the House of Rep21 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

22 Science, and Transportation of the Senate not later 

23 than May 31, 2006. 
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1 (h) BUDGETS.—The proposed budget for NASA sub2 mitted by the President for each fiscal year shall be ac3 companied by documents showing— 

4 (1) the budget for each element of the human 

5 space flight program; 

6 (2) the budget for aeronautics; 

7 (3) the budget for space science; 

8 (4) the budget for earth science; 

9 (5) the budget for microgravity science; 

10 (6) the budget for education; 

11 (7) the budget for technology transfer pro12 grams; 

13 (8) the budget for the Integrated Financial 

14 Management Program, by individual element; 

15 (9) the budget for the Independent Technical 

16 Authority, both total and by center; 

17 (10) the budget for public relations, by pro18 gram; 

19 (11) the comparable figures for at least the 2 

20 previous fiscal years for each item in the proposed 

21 budget; 

22 (12) the amount of unobligated funds and un23 expended funds, by appropriations account— 

24 (A) that remained at the end of the fiscal 

25 year prior to the fiscal year in which the budget 
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1 is being presented that were carried over into 

2 the fiscal year in which the budget is being pre3 sented; 

4 (B) that are estimated will remain at the 

5 end of the fiscal year in which the budget is 

6 being presented that are proposed to be carried 

7 over into the fiscal year for which the budget is 

8 being presented; and 

9 (C) that are estimated will remain at the 

10 end of the fiscal year for which the budget is 

11 being presented; and 

12 (13) the budget for safety, by program. 

13 (i) GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 

14 NASA shall make available, upon request from the Com15 mittee on Science of the House of Representatives or the 

16 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

17 the Senate, information on Corporate and Center General 

18 and Administrative Costs and Service Pool costs, includ19 ing— 

20 (1) the total amount of funds being allocated 

21 for those purposes for any fiscal year for which the 

22 President has submitted an annual budget request 

23 to Congress; 
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1 (2) the amount of funds being allocated for 

2 those purposes for each center, for headquarters, 

3 and for each directorate; and 

4 (3) the major activities included in each cost 

5 category. 

6 (j) NASA TEST FACILITIES.— 

7 (1) REVIEW.—The Director of the Office of 

8 Science and Technology Policy shall commission an 

9 independent review of the Nation’s long-term stra10 tegic needs for test facilities and shall submit the re11 view to the Committee on Science of the House of 

12 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

13 Science, and Transportation of the Senate. The re14 view shall include an evaluation of the facility needs 

15 described pursuant to subsection (c)(2)(C). 

16 (2) LIMITATION.—The Administrator shall not 

17 close or mothball any aeronautical test facilities 

18 identified in the 2003 independent assessment by 

19 the RAND Corporation, entitled ‘‘Wind Tunnel and 

20 Propulsion Test Facilities: An Assessment of 

21 NASA’s Capabilities to Serve National Needs’’ as 

22 being part of the minimum set of those facilities nec23 essary to retain and manage to serve national needs, 

24 as well as any other non-aeronautical NASA test fa25 cilities that were in use as of January 1, 2004, until 
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1 the review conducted under paragraph (1) has been 

2 transmitted to the Congress. 

3 SEC. 102. REPORTS. 

4 (a) IMMEDIATE ISSUES.—Not later than September 

5 30, 2005, the Administrator shall transmit to the Com6 mittee on Science of the House of Representatives and the 

7 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

8 the Senate a report on each of the following items: 

9 (1) The research agenda for the ISS and its 

10 proposed final configuration. 

11 (2) The number of flights the Space Shuttle 

12 will make before its retirement, the purpose of those 

13 flights, and the expected date of the final flight. 

14 (3) A description of the means, other than the 

15 Space Shuttle, that may be used to ferry crew and 

16 cargo to and from the ISS. 

17 (4) A plan for the operation of the ISS in the 

18 event that the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 is 

19 not amended. 

20 (5) A description of the launch vehicle for the 

21 Crew Exploration Vehicle. 

22 (6) A description of any heavy lift vehicle 

23 NASA intends to develop, the intended uses of that 

24 vehicle, and whether the decision to develop that ve25 hicle has undergone an interagency review. 
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1 (7) A description of the intended purpose of 

2 lunar missions and the architecture for those mis3 sions. 

4 (8) The program goals for Project Prometheus. 

5 (9) A plan for managing the cost increase for 

6 the James Webb Space Telescope. 

7 (b) CREW EXPLORATION VEHICLE.—The Adminis8 trator shall not enter into a development contract for the 

9 Crew Exploration Vehicle until at least 30 days after the 

10 Administrator has transmitted to the Committee on 

11 Science of the House of Representatives and the Com12 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

13 Senate a report describing— 

14 (1) the expected cost of the Crew Exploration 

15 Vehicle through fiscal year 2020, based on the speci16 fications for that development contract; 

17 (2) the expected budgets for each fiscal year 

18 through fiscal year 2020 for human space flight, 

19 aeronautics, space science, and earth science— 

20 (A) first assuming inflationary growth for 

21 the budget of NASA as a whole and including 

22 costs for the Crew Exploration Vehicle as pro23 jected under paragraph (1); and 

24 (B) then assuming inflationary growth for 

25 the budget of NASA as a whole and including 
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1 at least two cost estimates for the Crew Explo2 ration Vehicle that are higher than those pro3 jected under paragraph (1), based on NASA’s 

4 past experience with cost increases for similar 

5 programs, along with a description of the rea6 sons for selecting the cost estimates used for 

7 the calculations under this subparagraph and 

8 the probability that the cost of the Crew Explo9 ration Vehicle will reach those estimated 

10 amounts; and 

11 (3) the extent to which the Crew Exploration 

12 Vehicle will allow for the escape of the crew in the 

13 event of an emergency. 

14 (c) SPACE COMMUNICATIONS STUDY.— 

15 (1) STUDY.—The Administrator shall develop a 

16 plan for updating NASA’s space communications ar17 chitecture for both low-Earth orbital operations and 

18 deep space exploration so that it is capable of meet19 ing NASA’s needs over the next 20 years. The plan 

20 shall also include life-cycle cost estimates, mile21 stones, estimated performance capabilities, and 5- 

22 year funding profiles. The plan shall also include an 

23 estimate of the amounts of any reimbursements 

24 NASA is likely to receive from other Federal agen25 cies during the expected life of the upgrades de-
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1 scribed in the plan. The plan shall include a descrip2 tion of the following: 

3 (A) Projected Deep Space Network re4 quirements for the next decade, including those 

5 in support of human space exploration missions. 

6 (B) Upgrades needed to support Deep 

7 Space Network requirements. 

8 (C) Cost estimates for the maintenance of 

9 existing Deep Space Network capabilities. 

10 (D) Cost estimates and schedules for the 

11 upgrades described in subparagraph (B). 

12 (2) CONSULTATIONS.—The Administrator shall 

13 consult with other relevant Federal agencies in de14 veloping the plan under this subsection. 

15 (3) REPORT.—The Administrator shall trans16 mit the plan under this subsection to the Committee 

17 on Science of the House of Representatives and the 

18 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor19 tation of the Senate not later than February 17, 

20 2007. 

21 (d) PUBLIC RELATIONS.—Not later than December 

22 31, 2005, the Administrator shall transmit a plan to the 

23 Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on 

24 Science of the House of Representatives, and to the Com25 mittee on Appropriations and the Committee on Com-
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1 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, describ2 ing the activities that will be undertaken as part of the 

3 national awareness campaign required by the report of the 

4 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representa5 tives accompanying the Science, State, Justice, Commerce, 

6 and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006, and the 

7 expected cost of those activities. NASA may undertake ac8 tivities as part of the national awareness campaign prior 

9 to the transmittal of the plan required by this subsection, 

10 but not until 15 days after notifying the Committee on 

11 Science of the House of Representatives and the Com12 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

13 Senate of any activity. The plan required by this sub14 section shall include the estimated costs of any activities 

15 undertaken pursuant to notice under the preceding sen16 tence. 

17 (e) JOINT DARK ENERGY MISSION.—The Adminis18 trator and the Director of the Department of Energy Of19 fice of Science shall jointly transmit to the Committee on 

20 Science of the House of Representatives and the Com21 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

22 Senate, not later than the date on which the President 

23 submits the proposed budget for the Federal Government 

24 for fiscal year 2007, a report on plans for a Joint Dark 

25 Energy Mission. The report shall include the amount of 
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1 funds each agency intends to expend on the Joint Dark 

2 Energy Mission for each of the fiscal years 2007 through 

3 2011, and any specific milestones for the development and 

4 launch of the Mission. 

5 (f) SHUTTLE EMPLOYEE TRANSITION.—The Admin6 istrator shall consult with other appropriate Federal agen7 cies and with NASA contractors and employees to develop 

8 a transition plan for Federal and contractor personnel en9 gaged in the Space Shuttle program. The plan shall in10 clude actions to assist Federal and contractor personnel 

11 to take advantage of training, retraining, job placement, 

12 and relocation programs, and any other actions that 

13 NASA will take to assist the employees. The plan shall 

14 also describe how the Administrator will ensure that 

15 NASA and its contractors will have an appropriate com16 plement of employees to allow for the safest possible use 

17 of the Space Shuttle through its final flight. The Adminis18 trator shall transmit the plan to the Committee on Science 

19 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

20 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate not 

21 later than February 1, 2006. 

22 (g) OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POL23 ICY.— 
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1 (1) STUDY.—The Director of the Office of 

2 Science and Technology Policy shall conduct a study 

3 to determine— 

4 (A) if any research and development pro5 grams of NASA are unnecessarily duplicating 

6 aspects of programs of other Federal agencies; 

7 and 

8 (B) if any research and development pro9 grams of NASA are neglecting any topics of na10 tional interest that are related to the mission of 

11 NASA. 

12 (2) REPORT.—Not later than March 1, 2006, 

13 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

14 Policy shall transmit to the Committee on Science of 

15 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

16 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen17 ate a report that— 

18 (A) describes the results of the study 

19 under paragraph (1); 

20 (B) lists the research and development pro21 grams of Federal agencies other than NASA 

22 that were reviewed as part of the study, which 

23 shall include any program supporting research 

24 and development in an area related to the pro-
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1 grams of NASA, and the most recent budget 

2 figures for those programs of other agencies; 

3 (C) recommends any changes to the re4 search and development programs of NASA 

5 that should be made to eliminate unnecessary 

6 duplication or address topics of national inter7 est; and 

8 (D) describes mechanisms the Office of 

9 Science and Technology Policy will use to en10 sure adequate coordination between NASA and 

11 Federal agencies that operate related programs. 

12 (h) OFFICE OF SMALL AND DISADVANTAGED BUSI13 NESS UTILIZATION.—The Administrator shall transmit to 

14 the Committee on Science and the Committee on Small 

15 Business of the House of Representatives and the Com16 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 

17 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of 

18 the Senate a quarterly report on the NASA Office of Small 

19 and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, which shall in20 clude a description of the outreach activities of the Office 

21 and the impact of such activities on the participation of 

22 small businesses, including small businesses owned by 

23 women and minorities, in NASA contracts. 

24 SEC. 103. BASELINES AND COST CONTROLS. 

25 (a) CONDITIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—NASA shall not enter into a 

2 contract for the development phase of a major pro3 gram unless the Administrator determines that— 

4 (A) the technical, cost, and schedule risks 

5 of the program are clearly identified and the 

6 program has developed a plan to manage those 

7 risks; and 

8 (B) the program complies with all relevant 

9 policies, regulations, and directives of NASA. 

10 (2) REPORT.—The Administrator shall trans11 mit a report describing the basis for the determina12 tion required under paragraph (1) to the Committee 

13 on Science of the House of Representatives and the 

14 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor15 tation of the Senate at least 30 days before entering 

16 into a contract for development under a major pro17 gram. 

18 (3) NONDELEGATION.—The Administrator may 

19 not delegate the determination requirement under 

20 this subsection, except in cases in which the Admin21 istrator has a conflict of interest. 

22 (b) MAJOR PROGRAM ANNUAL REPORTS.— 

23 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than February 

24 15 of each year following the date of enactment of 

25 this Act, the Administrator shall transmit to the 
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1 Committee on Science of the House of Representa2 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

3 Transportation of the Senate a report on each major 

4 program for which NASA proposes to expend funds 

5 in the subsequent fiscal year. Reports under this 

6 section shall be known as Major Program Annual 

7 Reports. 

8 (2) BASELINE REPORT.—The first Major Pro9 gram Annual Report for each major program shall 

10 include a Baseline Report that shall, at a minimum, 

11 include— 

12 (A) the purposes of the program and key 

13 technical characteristics necessary to fulfill 

14 those purposes; 

15 (B) an estimate of the life-cycle cost for 

16 the program, with a detailed breakout of the 

17 development cost, program reserves, and an es18 timate of the annual costs until the develop19 ment is completed; 

20 (C) the schedule for the development, in21 cluding key program milestones; 

22 (D) the plan for mitigating technical, 

23 schedule, and cost risks prepared in accordance 

24 with subsection (a)(1)(A); and 
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1 (E) the name of the person responsible for 

2 making notifications under subsection (c), who 

3 shall be an individual whose primary responsi4 bility is overseeing the program. 

5 (3) INFORMATION UPDATES.—For major pro6 grams with respect to which a Baseline Report has 

7 been previously submitted, each subsequent Major 

8 Program Annual Report shall describe any changes 

9 to the information that had been provided in the 

10 Baseline Report, and the reasons for those changes. 

11 (c) NOTIFICATION.— 

12 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The individual identified 

13 under subsection (b)(2)(D) shall immediately notify 

14 the Administrator any time that individual has rea15 sonable cause to believe that, for the major program 

16 for which he or she is responsible— 

17 (A) the development cost of the program is 

18 likely to exceed the estimate provided in the 

19 Baseline Report of the program by 15 percent 

20 or more; or 

21 (B) a milestone of the program is likely to 

22 be delayed by 6 months or more from the date 

23 provided for it in the Baseline Report of the 

24 program. 
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1 (2) REASONS.—Not later than 7 days after the 

2 notification required under paragraph (1), the indi3 vidual identified under subsection (b)(2)(D) shall 

4 transmit to the Administrator a written notification 

5 explaining the reasons for the change in the cost or 

6 milestone of the program for which notification was 

7 provided under paragraph (1). 

8 (3) NOTIFICATION OF CONGRESS.—Not later 

9 than 5 days after the Administrator receives a writ10 ten notification under paragraph (2), the Adminis11 trator shall transmit the notification to the Com12 mittee on Science of the House of Representatives 

13 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

14 Transportation of the Senate. 

15 (d) FIFTEEN PERCENT THRESHOLD.—Not later 

16 than 30 days after receiving a written notification under 

17 subsection (c)(2), the Administrator shall determine 

18 whether the development cost of the program is likely to 

19 exceed the estimate provided in the Baseline Report of the 

20 program by 15 percent or more, or whether a milestone 

21 is likely to be delayed by 6 months or more. If the deter22 mination is affirmative, the Administrator shall— 

23 (1) transmit to the Committee on Science of the 

24 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

25 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen-
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1 ate, not later than 14 days after making the deter2 mination, a report that includes— 

3 (A) a description of the increase in cost or 

4 delay in schedule and a detailed explanation for 

5 the increase or delay; 

6 (B) a description of actions taken or pro7 posed to be taken in response to the cost in8 crease or delay; and 

9 (C) a description of any impacts the cost 

10 increase or schedule delay will have on any 

11 other program within NASA; and 

12 (2) if the Administrator intends to continue 

13 with the program, promptly initiate an analysis of 

14 the program, which shall include, at a minimum— 

15 (A) the projected cost and schedule for 

16 completing the program if current requirements 

17 of the program are not modified; 

18 (B) the projected cost and the schedule for 

19 completing the program after instituting the ac20 tions described under paragraph (1)(B); and 

21 (C) a description of, and the projected cost 

22 and schedule for, a broad range of alternatives 

23 to the program. 

24 NASA shall complete an analysis initiated under para25 graph (2) not later than 6 months after the Administrator 
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1 makes a determination under this subsection. The Admin2 istrator shall transmit the analysis to the Committee on 

3 Science of the House of Representatives and Committee 

4 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

5 not later than 30 days after its completion. 

6 (e) THIRTY PERCENT THRESHOLD.—If the Adminis7 trator determines under subsection (d) that the develop8 ment cost of a program will exceed the estimate provided 

9 in the Baseline Report of the program by more than the 

10 lower of 30 percent or $1,000,000,000, then, beginning 

11 18 months after the date the Administrator transmits a 

12 report under subsection (d)(1), the Administrator shall 

13 not expend any additional funds on the program, other 

14 than termination costs, unless the Congress has subse15 quently authorized continuation of the program by law. 

16 An appropriation for the program enacted subsequent to 

17 a report being transmitted shall be considered an author18 ization for purposes of this subsection. If the program is 

19 continued, the Administrator shall submit a new Baseline 

20 Report for the program no later than 90 days after the 

21 date of enactment of the Act under which Congress has 

22 authorized continuation of the program. 

23 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section— 

24 (1) the term ‘‘development’’ means the phase of 

25 a program following the formulation phase and be-
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1 ginning with the approval to proceed to implementa2 tion, as defined in NASA’s Procedural Requirements 

3 7120.5c, dated March 22, 2005; 

4 (2) the term ‘‘development cost’’ means the 

5 total of all costs, including construction of facilities 

6 and civil servant costs, from the period beginning 

7 with the approval to proceed to implementation 

8 through the achievement of operational readiness, 

9 without regard to funding source or management 

10 control, for the life of the program; 

11 (3) the term ‘‘life-cycle cost’’ means the total of 

12 the direct, indirect, recurring, and nonrecurring 

13 costs, including the construction of facilities and civil 

14 servant costs, and other related expenses incurred or 

15 estimated to be incurred in the design, development, 

16 verification, production, operation, maintenance, 

17 support, and retirement of a program over its 

18 planned lifespan, without regard to funding source 

19 or management control; and 

20 (4) the term ‘‘major program’’ means an activ21 ity approved to proceed to implementation that has 

22 an estimated life-cycle cost of more than 

23 $150,000,000. 
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1 SEC. 104. PRIZE AUTHORITY. 

2 The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 

3 U.S.C. 2451, et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 

4 313 the following new section: 

5 ‘‘PRIZE AUTHORITY

6 ‘‘SEC. 314. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administration 

7 may carry out a program to competitively award cash 

8 prizes to stimulate innovation in basic and applied re9 search, technology development, and prototype demonstra10 tion that have the potential for application to the perform11 ance of the space and aeronautical activities of the Admin12 istration. The Administration may carry out a program 

13 to award prizes only in conformity with this section. 

14 ‘‘(b) TOPICS.—In selecting topics for prize competi15 tions, the Administrator shall consult widely both within 

16 and outside the Federal Government, and may empanel 

17 advisory committees. 

18 ‘‘(c) ADVERTISING.—The Administrator shall widely 

19 advertise prize competitions to encourage participation. 

20 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS AND REGISTRATION.—For each 

21 prize competition, the Administrator shall publish a notice 

22 in the Federal Register announcing the subject of the com23 petition, the rules for being eligible to participate in the 

24 competition, the amount of the prize, and the basis on 

25 which a winner will be selected. 
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1 ‘‘(e) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to win a prize 

2 under this section, an individual or entity— 

3 ‘‘(1) shall have registered to participate in the 

4 competition pursuant to any rules promulgated by 

5 the Administrator under subsection (d); 

6 ‘‘(2) shall have complied with all the require7 ments under this section; 

8 ‘‘(3) in the case of a private entity, shall be in9 corporated in and maintain a primary place of busi10 ness in the United States, and in the case of an in11 dividual, whether participating singly or in a group, 

12 shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the 

13 United States; and 

14 ‘‘(4) shall not be a Federal entity or Federal 

15 employee acting within the scope of their employ16 ment. 

17 ‘‘(f) LIABILITY.—(1) Registered participants must 

18 agree to assume any and all risks and waive claims against 

19 the United States Government and its related entities, ex20 cept in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, 

21 death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, 

22 whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from 

23 their participation in a competition, whether such injury, 

24 death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or other25 wise. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘related 
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1 entity’ means a contractor or subcontractor at any tier, 

2 and a supplier, user, customer, cooperating party, grantee, 

3 investigator, or detailee. 

4 ‘‘(2) Participants must obtain liability insurance or 

5 demonstrate financial responsibility in amounts deter6 mined by the Administrator, from claims by— 

7 ‘‘(A) a third party for death, bodily injury, or 

8 property damage, or loss resulting from an activity 

9 carried out in connection with participation in a 

10 competition, with the Federal Government named as 

11 an additional insured under the registered partici12 pant’s insurance policy and registered participants 

13 agreeing to indemnify the Federal Government 

14 against third party claims for damages arising from 

15 or related to competition activities; and 

16 ‘‘(B) the United States Government for damage 

17 or loss to Government property resulting from such 

18 an activity. 

19 ‘‘(g) JUDGES.—For each competition, the Adminis20 tration, either directly or through a contract under sub21 section (h), shall assemble a panel of qualified judges to 

22 select the winner or winners of the prize competition on 

23 the basis described pursuant to subsection (d). Judges for 

24 each competition shall include individuals from outside the 
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1 Administration, including from the private sector. A judge 

2 may not— 

3 ‘‘(1) have personal or financial interests in, or 

4 be an employee, officer, director, or agent of any en5 tity that is a registered participant in a competition; 

6 or 

7 ‘‘(2) have a familial or financial relationship 

8 with an individual who is a registered participant. 

9 ‘‘(h) ADMINISTERING THE COMPETITION.—The Ad10 ministrator may enter into an agreement with a private, 

11 nonprofit entity to administer the prize competition, sub12 ject to the provisions of this section. 

13 ‘‘(i) FUNDING.—(1) The Administrator may accept 

14 funds from other Federal agencies and from the private 

15 sector for cash prizes under this section. The Adminis16 trator may not give any special consideration to any pri17 vate sector entity in return for a donation. 

18 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

19 funds appropriated for prize awards under this section 

20 shall remain available until expended, and may be trans21 ferred, reprogrammed, or expended for other purposes 

22 only after the expiration of 10 fiscal years after the fiscal 

23 year for which the funds were originally appropriated. No 

24 provision in this section permits obligation or payment of 
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1 funds in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. 

2 1341). 

3 ‘‘(3) No prize may be announced under subsection 

4 (d) until all the funds needed to pay out the announced 

5 amount of the prize have been appropriated or committed 

6 in writing by a private source. The Administrator may in7 crease the amount of a prize after an initial announcement 

8 is made under subsection (d) if— 

9 (A) notice of the increase is provided in the 

10 same manner as the initial notice of the prize; and 

11 (B) the funds needed to pay out the announced 

12 amount of the increase have been appropriated or 

13 committed in writing by a private source. 

14 ‘‘(4) No prize competition under this section may 

15 offer a prize in an amount greater than $10,000,000 un16 less 30 days have elapsed after written notice has been 

17 provided to the Committee on Science of the House of 

18 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

19 Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 

20 ‘‘(j) USE OF NASA NAME AND INSIGNIA.—A reg21 istered participant in a competition under this section may 

22 use the Administration’s name, initials, or insignia only 

23 after prior review and written approval by the Administra24 tion. 
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1 ‘‘(k) COMPLIANCE WITH EXISTING LAW.—The Fed2 eral Government shall not, by virtue of offering or pro3 viding a prize under this section, be responsible for compli4 ance by registered participants in a prize competition with 

5 Federal law, including licensing, export control, and non6 proliferation laws, and related regulations.’’. 

7 SEC. 105. FOREIGN LAUNCH VEHICLES. 

8 (a) ACCORD WITH SPACE TRANSPORTATION POL9 ICY.—NASA shall not launch a mission on a foreign 

10 launch vehicle except in accordance with the Space Trans11 portation Policy announced by the President on December 

12 21, 2004. 

13 (b) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—NASA shall not 

14 launch a mission on a foreign launch vehicle unless NASA 

15 commenced the interagency coordination required by the 

16 Space Transportation Policy announced by the President 

17 on December 21, 2004, at least 90 days before entering 

18 into a development contract for the mission. 

19 (c) APPLICATION.—This section shall not apply to 

20 any mission for which development has begun prior to the 

21 date of enactment of this Act, including the James Webb 

22 Space Telescope. 
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1 SEC. 106. SAFETY MANAGEMENT. 

2 Section 6 of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad3 ministration Authorization Act, 1968 (42 U.S.C. 2477) is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 

6 ‘‘There is hereby’’; 

7 (2) by striking ‘‘plans referred to it’’ and in8 serting ‘‘plans referred to it, including evaluating the 

9 National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s 

10 compliance with the return-to-flight and continue-to11 fly recommendations of the Columbia Accident In12 vestigation Board,’’; 

13 (3) by inserting ‘‘and the Congress’’ after ‘‘ad14 vise the Administrator’’; 

15 (4) by striking ‘‘and with respect to the ade16 quacy of proposed or existing safety standards and 

17 shall’’ and inserting ‘‘, with respect to the adequacy 

18 of proposed or existing safety standards, and with 

19 respect to management and culture. The Panel shall 

20 also’’; and 

21 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(b) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Panel shall submit an 

23 annual report to the Administrator and to the Congress. 

24 In the first annual report submitted after the date of en25 actment of the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis26 tration Authorization Act of 2005, the Panel shall include 
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1 an evaluation of the Administration’s safety management 

2 culture. Each annual report shall include an evaluation of 

3 the Administration’s compliance with the recommenda4 tions of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.’’. 

5 SEC. 107. LESSONS LEARNED AND BEST PRACTICES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall transmit 

7 to the Committee on Science of the House of Representa8 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

9 Transportation of the Senate an implementation plan de10 scribing NASA’s approach for obtaining, implementing, 

11 and sharing lessons learned and best practices for its 

12 major programs and projects not later than 180 days after 

13 the date of enactment of this Act. The implementation 

14 plan shall be updated and maintained to ensure that it 

15 is current and consistent with the burgeoning culture of 

16 learning and safety that is emerging at NASA. 

17 (b) REQUIRED CONTENT.—The implementation plan 

18 shall contain at a minimum the lessons learned and best 

19 practices requirements for NASA, the organizations or po20 sitions responsible for enforcement of the requirements, 

21 the reporting structure, and the objective performance 

22 measures indicating the effectiveness of the activity. 

23 (c) INCENTIVES.—The Administrator shall provide 

24 incentives to encourage sharing and implementation of les25 sons learned and best practices by employees, projects, 
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1 and programs, as well as penalties for programs and 

2 projects that are determined not to have demonstrated use 

3 of those resources. 

4 SEC. 108. COMMERCIALIZATION PLAN. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in consulta6 tion with other relevant agencies, shall develop a commer7 cialization plan to support the human missions to the 

8 Moon and Mars, to support Low-Earth Orbit activities 

9 and Earth science missions and applications, and to trans10 fer science research and technology to society. The plan 

11 shall identify opportunities for the private sector to par12 ticipate in the future missions and activities, including op13 portunities for partnership between NASA and the private 

14 sector in conducting research and the development of tech15 nologies and services. The plan shall include provisions for 

16 developing and funding sustained university and industry 

17 partnerships to conduct commercial research and tech18 nology development, to proactively translate results of 

19 space research to Earth benefits, to advance United States 

20 economic interests, and to support the vision for explo21 ration. 

22 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

23 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 

24 a copy of the plan to the Committee on Science of the 
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1 House of Representatives and the Committee on Com2 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 

3 SEC. 109. STUDY ON THE FEASIBILITY OF USE OF GROUND 

4 SOURCE HEAT PUMPS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall conduct 

6 a feasibility study on the use of ground source heat pumps 

7 in future NASA facilities or substantial renovation of ex8 isting NASA facilities involving the installation of heating, 

9 ventilating, and air conditioning systems. Not later than 

10 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Admin11 istrator shall transmit the study to the Committee on 

12 Science of the House of Representatives and the Com13 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

14 Senate. 

15 (b) CONTENTS.—The study shall examine— 

16 (1) the life-cycle costs, including maintenance 

17 costs, of the operation of such heat pumps compared 

18 to generally available heating, cooling, and water 

19 heating equipment; 

20 (2) barriers to installation, such as availability 

21 and suitability of terrain; and 

22 (3) such other issues as the Administrator con23 siders appropriate. 

24 (c) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘ground 

25 source heat pump’’ means an electric-powered system that 
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1 uses the Earth’s relatively constant temperature to pro2 vide heating, cooling, or hot water. 

3 SEC. 110. SPACE SHUTTLE RETURN TO FLIGHT. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that, in keeping with the 

5 President’s Vision for Space Exploration, the Space Shut6 tle should return to flight as soon as the Administrator 

7 determines that a flight can be accomplished with an ac8 ceptable level of safety. 

9 SEC. 111. WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION. 

10 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act, the Administrator shall transmit to the Com12 mittee on Science of the House of Representatives and the 

13 Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation of 

14 the Senate a plan describing steps to be taken by NASA 

15 to protect the employment status of NASA employees who 

16 raise or have raised concerns about a potentially cata17 strophic risk to health or safety. 

18 TITLE II—AUTHORIZATION OF 

19 APPROPRIATIONS 

20 SEC. 201. STRUCTURE OF BUDGETARY ACCOUNTS. 

21 Section 313 of the National Aeronautics and Space 

22 Act of 1958 (42 U.S.C. 2459f) is amended to read as fol23 lows: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 313. BUDGETARY ACCOUNTS. 

2 ‘‘Appropriations for the Administration for fiscal year 

3 2007 and thereafter shall be made in four accounts, 

4 ‘Science, Aeronautics, and Education’, ‘Exploration Sys5 tems’, ‘Space Operations’, and an account for amounts ap6 propriated for the necessary expenses of the Office of the 

7 Inspector General. Appropriations shall remain available 

8 for two fiscal years, unless otherwise specified in law. 

9 Each account shall include the planned full costs of Ad10 ministration activities.’’. 

11 SEC. 202. FISCAL YEAR 2006. 

12 There are authorized to be appropriated to NASA for 

13 fiscal year 2006 $16,965,650,000, as follows: 

14 (1) For Science, Aeronautics and Education 

15 (including amounts for construction of facilities), 

16 $6,870,250,000 of which— 

17 (A) $962,000,000 shall be for Aeronautics; 

18 (B) $150,000,000 shall be for a Hubble 

19 Space Telescope servicing mission; 

20 (C) $24,000,000 shall be for the National 

21 Space Grant College and Fellowship Program; 

22 and 

23 (D) $8,900,000 for the Science and Tech24 nology Scholarship Program. 
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1 (2) For Exploration Systems (including 

2 amounts for construction of facilities), 

3 $3,844,100,000. 

4 (3) For Space Operations (including amounts 

5 for construction of facilities), $6,218,900,000. 

6 (4) For the Office of Inspector General, 

7 $32,400,000. 

8 SEC. 203. FISCAL YEAR 2007. 

9 There are authorized to be appropriated to NASA for 

10 fiscal year 2007 $17,726,800,000, as follows: 

11 (1) For Science, Aeronautics and Education 

12 (including amounts for construction of facilities), 

13 $7,331,600,000 of which— 

14 (A) $990,000,000 shall be for Aeronautics; 

15 and 

16 (B) $24,000,000 shall be for the National 

17 Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. 

18 (2) For Exploration Systems (including 

19 amounts for construction of facilities), 

20 $4,514,000,000. 

21 (3) For Space Operations (including amounts 

22 for construction of facilities), $5,847,700,000. 

23 (4) For the Office of Inspector General, 

24 $33,500,000. 
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1 SEC. 204. ISS RESEARCH. 

2 The Administrator shall allocate at least 15 percent 

3 of the funds budgeted for ISS research to research that 

4 is not directly related to supporting the human exploration 

5 program. 

6 SEC. 205. TEST FACILITIES. 

7 (a) CHARGES.—The Administrator shall establish a 

8 policy of charging users of NASA’s test facilities for the 

9 costs associated with their tests at a level that is competi10 tive with alternative test facilities. As a general principle, 

11 NASA shall not seek to recover the full costs of the oper12 ation of those facilities from the users. The Administrator 

13 shall not implement a policy of seeking full cost recovery 

14 for a facility until at least 30 days after transmitting a 

15 notice to the Committee on Science of the House of Rep16 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

17 and Transportation of the Senate. 

18 (b) FUNDING ACCOUNT.—The Administrator shall 

19 establish a funding account that shall be used for all test 

20 facilities. The account shall be sufficient to maintain the 

21 viability of test facilities during periods of low utilization. 

22 SEC. 206. PROPORTIONALITY. 

23 If the total amount appropriated for NASA pursuant 

24 to section 202 or 203 is less than the amount authorized 

25 under such section, the amounts authorized under each 
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1 of the accounts specified in such section shall be reduced 

2 proportionately. 

3 SEC. 207. LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORITY. 

4 Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no 

5 amount appropriated pursuant to this Act may be used 

6 for any program in excess of the amount actually author7 ized for the particular program by section 202 or 203, 

8 unless a period of 30 days has passed after the receipt, 

9 by the Committee on Science of the House of Representa10 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

11 Transportation of the Senate, of notice given by the Ad12 ministrator containing a full and complete statement of 

13 the action proposed to be taken and the facts and cir14 cumstances relied upon in support of such a proposed ac15 tion. NASA shall keep the Committee on Science of the 

16 House of Representatives and the Committee on Com17 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate fully 

18 and currently informed with respect to all activities and 

19 responsibilities within the jurisdiction of those Commit20 tees. 

21 SEC. 208. NOTICE OF REPROGRAMMING. 

22 If any funds authorized by this Act are subject to 

23 a reprogramming action that requires notice to be pro24 vided to the Appropriations Committees of the House of 

25 Representatives and the Senate, notice of such action shall 
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1 concurrently be provided to the Committee on Science of 

2 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com3 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 

4 SEC. 209. COST OVERRUNS. 

5 When reprogramming funds to cover unexpected cost 

6 growth within a program, the Administrator shall, to the 

7 maximum extent practicable, protect funds intended for 

8 fundamental and applied Research and Analysis. 

9 SEC. 210. OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIONAL FUND. 

10 Amounts appropriated pursuant to this Act may be 

11 used, but not to exceed a total of $35,000 in any fiscal 

12 year, for official reception and representation expenses. 

13 SEC. 211. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION COST CAP. 

14 Section 202 of the National Aeronautics and Space 

15 Administration Authorization Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 

16 2451 note) is repealed. 

17 TITLE III—SCIENCE 

18 Subtitle A—General Provisions 

19 SEC. 301. PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Performance of each discipline in 

21 the Science account of NASA shall be reviewed and as22 sessed by the National Academy of Sciences at 5-year in23 tervals. 

24 (b) TIMING.—Beginning with the first fiscal year fol25 lowing the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-
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1 trator shall select at least one discipline for review under 

2 this section. The Administrator shall select disciplines so 

3 that all disciplines will have received their first review 

4 within six fiscal years of the date of enactment of this 

5 Act. 

6 (c) REPORTS.—Not later than March 1 of each year, 

7 beginning with the first fiscal year after the date of enact8 ment of this Act, the Administrator shall transmit a report 

9 to the Committee on Science of the House of Representa10 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

11 Transportation of the Senate— 

12 (1) setting forth in detail the results of any ex13 ternal review under subsection (a); 

14 (2) setting forth in detail actions taken by 

15 NASA in response to any external review; and 

16 (3) including a summary of findings and rec17 ommendations from any other relevant external re18 views of NASA’s science mission priorities and pro19 grams. 

20 SEC. 302. STATUS REPORT ON HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE 

21 SERVICING MISSION. 

22 It is the sense of the Congress that the Hubble Space 

23 Telescope is an extraordinary instrument that has pro24 vided, and should continue to provide, answers to profound 

25 scientific questions. In accordance with the recommenda-
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1 tions of the National Academy of Sciences study titled 

2 ‘‘Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the 

3 Hubble Space Telescope’’, all appropriate efforts should 

4 be expended to complete the Space Shuttle servicing mis5 sion. Upon successful completion of the planned return6 to-flight schedule of the Space Shuttle, the Administrator 

7 shall determine the schedule for a Space Shuttle servicing 

8 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, unless such a mis9 sion would compromise astronaut safety. Not later than 

10 60 days after the landing of the second Space Shuttle mis11 sion for return-to-flight certification, the Administrator 

12 shall transmit to the Committee on Science of the House 

13 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

14 Science, and Transportation of the Senate a status report 

15 on plans for a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. 

16 SEC. 303. INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF LANDSAT17 NPOESS INTEGRATED MISSION. 

18 (a) ASSESSMENT.—In view of the importance of en19 suring continuity of Landsat data and in view of the chal20 lenges facing the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental 

21 Satellite System program, the Administrator shall seek an 

22 independent assessment of the costs as well as the tech23 nical, cost, and schedule risks associated with incor24 porating the Landsat instrument on the first National 

25 Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System spacecraft 
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1 versus undertaking a dedicated Landsat data ‘‘gap-filler’’ 

2 mission followed by the incorporation of the Landsat in3 strument on the second National Polar-Orbiting Environ4 mental Satellite System spacecraft. The assessment shall 

5 also include an evaluation of the budgetary requirements 

6 of each of the options under consideration. 

7 (b) REPORT.—The Administrator shall transmit the 

8 independent assessment to the Committee on Science of 

9 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com10 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate not later 

11 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 304. ASSESSMENT OF SCIENCE MISSION EXTENSIONS. 

13 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Administrator shall carry out 

14 annual termination reviews within each of the Science dis15 ciplines to assess the cost and benefits of extending the 

16 date of the termination of data collection for those mis17 sions which are beyond their primary goals. In addition: 

18 (1) Not later than 60 days after the date of en19 actment of this Act, the Administrator shall carry 

20 out such an assessment for the following missions: 

21 FAST, TIMED, Cluster, Wind, Geotail, Polar, 

22 TRACE, Ulysses, and Voyager. 

23 (2) For those missions that have an operational 

24 component, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

25 Administration shall be consulted and the potential 
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1 benefits of instruments on missions which are be2 yond their primary goals taken into account. 

3 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after com4 pleting the assessments required by subsection (a)(1), the 

5 Administrator shall transmit a report on the assessment 

6 to the Committee on Science of the House of Representa7 tives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

8 Transportation of the Senate. 

9 SEC. 305. MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall— 

11 (1) not later than 60 days after the date of en12 actment of this Act, provide to the Committee on 

13 Science of the House of Representatives and the 

14 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor15 tation of the Senate an assessment of microgravity 

16 research planned for implementation aboard the ISS 

17 that includes the identification of research which can 

18 be performed in ground-based facilities and then 

19 validated in space; 

20 (2) ensure the capacity to support ground-based 

21 research leading to space-based basic and applied 

22 scientific research in a variety of disciplines with po23 tential direct national benefits and applications that 

24 can advance significantly from the uniqueness of 

25 microgravity and the space environment; and 
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1 (3) carry out, to the maximum extent prac2 ticable basic, applied, and commercial ISS research 

3 activities such as molecular crystal growth, animal 

4 research, basic fluid physics, combustion research, 

5 cellular biotechnology, low temperature physics, and 

6 cellular research at a level which will sustain the ex7 isting scientific expertise and research capabilities. 

8 (b) ON-ORBIT CAPABILITIES.—The Administrator 

9 shall ensure that the on-orbit analytical capabilities of the 

10 ISS are sufficient to support any diagnostic human re11 search and on-orbit characterization of molecular crystal 

12 growth, cellular research, and other research that NASA 

13 believes is necessary to conduct, but for which NASA lacks 

14 the capacity to return the materials that need to be ana15 lyzed to Earth. 

16 (c) ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL SCIENTIFIC

17 USES.—The Administrator shall assess further potential 

18 scientific uses of the ISS for other applications, such as 

19 technology development, development of manufacturing 

20 processes, Earth observation and characterization, and as21 tronomical observations. 

22 SEC. 306. COORDINATION WITH THE NATIONAL OCEANIC 

23 AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION. 

24 (a) JOINT WORKING GROUP.—The Administrator 

25 and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and At-
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1 mospheric Administration shall appoint a Joint Working 

2 Group, which shall review and monitor missions of the two 

3 agencies to ensure maximum coordination in the design, 

4 operation, and transition of missions. The Joint Working 

5 Group shall also prepare the transition plans required by 

6 subsection (c). 

7 (b) COORDINATION REPORT.—Not later than Feb8 ruary 15 of each year, the Administrator and the Adminis9 trator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis10 tration shall jointly transmit a report to the Committee 

11 on Science of the House of Representatives and the Com12 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

13 Senate on how the earth science programs of the National 

14 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA will 

15 be coordinated during the fiscal year following the fiscal 

16 year in which the report is transmitted. 

17 (c) COORDINATION OF TRANSITION PLANNING AND

18 REPORTING.—The Administrator, in conjunction with the 

19 Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

20 Administration, shall evaluate all NASA missions for their 

21 potential operational capabilities and shall prepare transi22 tion plans for all existing and future Earth observing sys23 tems found to have potential operational capabilities and 

24 all National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

25 operational space-based systems. 
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1 (d) LIMITATION.—The Administrator shall not trans2 fer any NASA earth science mission or Earth observing 

3 system to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis4 tration until the transition plan required under subsection 

5 (c) has been approved by the Administrator and the Ad6 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad7 ministration and until financial resources have been iden8 tified to support the transition or transfer in the Presi9 dent’s budget request for the National Oceanic and At10 mospheric Administration. 

11 Subtitle B—Remote Sensing 

12 SEC. 311. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this subtitle— 

14 (1) the term ‘‘geospatial information’’ means 

15 knowledge of the nature and distribution of physical 

16 and cultural features on the landscape based on 

17 analysis of data from airborne or spaceborne plat18 forms or other types and sources of data; 

19 (2) the term ‘‘high resolution’’ means resolution 

20 better than five meters; and 

21 (3) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

22 has the meaning given that term in section 101(a) 

23 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

24 1001(a)). 
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1 SEC. 312. PILOT PROJECTS TO ENCOURAGE PUBLIC SEC2 TOR APPLICATIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall establish 

4 a program of grants for competitively awarded pilot 

5 projects to explore the integrated use of sources of remote 

6 sensing and other geospatial information to address State, 

7 local, regional, and tribal agency needs. 

8 (b) PREFERRED PROJECTS.—In awarding grants 

9 under this section, the Administrator shall give preference 

10 to projects that— 

11 (1) make use of commercial data sets, including 

12 high resolution commercial satellite imagery and de13 rived satellite data products, existing public data 

14 sets where commercial data sets are not available or 

15 applicable, or the fusion of such data sets; 

16 (2) integrate multiple sources of geospatial in17 formation, such as geographic information system 

18 data, satellite-provided positioning data, and re19 motely sensed data, in innovative ways; 

20 (3) include funds or in-kind contributions from 

21 non-Federal sources; 

22 (4) involve the participation of commercial enti23 ties that process raw or lightly processed data, often 

24 merging that data with other geospatial information, 

25 to create data products that have significant value 

26 added to the original data; and 
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1 (5) taken together demonstrate as diverse a set 

2 of public sector applications as possible. 

3 (c) OPPORTUNITIES.—In carrying out this section, 

4 the Administrator shall seek opportunities to assist— 

5 (1) in the development of commercial applica6 tions potentially available from the remote sensing 

7 industry; and 

8 (2) State, local, regional, and tribal agencies in 

9 applying remote sensing and other geospatial infor10 mation technologies for growth management. 

11 (d) DURATION.—Assistance for a pilot project under 

12 subsection (a) shall be provided for a period not to exceed 

13 3 years. 

14 (e) REPORT.—Each recipient of a grant under sub15 section (a) shall transmit a report to the Administrator 

16 on the results of the pilot project within 180 days of the 

17 completion of that project. 

18 (f) WORKSHOP.—Each recipient of a grant under 

19 subsection (a) shall, not later than 180 days after the com20 pletion of the pilot project, conduct at least one workshop 

21 for potential users to disseminate the lessons learned from 

22 the pilot project as widely as feasible. 

23 (g) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall issue 

24 regulations establishing application, selection, and imple-
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1 mentation procedures for pilot projects, and guidelines for 

2 reports and workshops required by this section. 

3 SEC. 313. PROGRAM EVALUATION. 

4 (a) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The Administrator 

5 shall establish an advisory committee, consisting of indi6 viduals with appropriate expertise in State, local, regional, 

7 and tribal agencies, the university research community, 

8 and the remote sensing and other geospatial information 

9 industry, to monitor the program established under sec10 tion 312. The advisory committee shall consult with the 

11 Federal Geographic Data Committee and other appro12 priate industry representatives and organizations. Not13 withstanding section 14 of the Federal Advisory Com14 mittee Act, the advisory committee established under this 

15 subsection shall remain in effect until the termination of 

16 the program under section 312. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION.—Not later than 

18 December 31, 2009, the Administrator shall transmit to 

19 the Congress an evaluation of the effectiveness of the pro20 gram established under section 312 in exploring and pro21 moting the integrated use of sources of remote sensing 

22 and other geospatial information to address State, local, 

23 regional, and tribal agency needs. Such evaluation shall 

24 have been conducted by an independent entity. 
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1 SEC. 314. DATA AVAILABILITY. 

2 The Administrator shall ensure that the results of 

3 each of the pilot projects completed under section 312 

4 shall be retrievable through an electronic, Internet-acces5 sible database. 

6 SEC. 315. EDUCATION. 

7 The Administrator shall establish an educational out8 reach program to increase awareness at institutions of 

9 higher education and State, local, regional, and tribal 

10 agencies of the potential applications of remote sensing 

11 and other geospatial information. 

12 Subtitle C—George E. Brown, Jr. 

13 Near-Earth Object Survey 

14 SEC. 321. GEORGE E. BROWN, JR. NEAR-EARTH OBJECT 

15 SURVEY. 

16 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

17 ‘‘George E. Brown, Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey Act’’. 

18 (b) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 

19 findings: 

20 (1) Near-Earth objects pose a serious and cred21 ible threat to humankind, as many scientists believe 

22 that a major asteroid or comet was responsible for 

23 the mass extinction of the majority of the Earth’s 

24 species, including the dinosaurs, nearly 65,000,000 

25 years ago. 
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1 (2) Similar objects have struck the Earth or 

2 passed through the Earth’s atmosphere several times 

3 in the Earth’s history and pose a similar threat in 

4 the future. 

5 (3) Several such near-Earth objects have only 

6 been discovered within days of the objects’ closest 

7 approach to Earth, and recent discoveries of such 

8 large objects indicate that many large near-Earth 

9 objects remain undiscovered. 

10 (4) The efforts taken to date by NASA for de11 tecting and characterizing the hazards of near-Earth 

12 objects are not sufficient to fully determine the 

13 threat posed by such objects to cause widespread de14 struction and loss of life. 

15 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section the 

16 term ‘‘near-Earth object’’ means an asteroid or comet with 

17 a perihelion distance of less that 1.3 Astronomical Units 

18 from the Sun. 

19 (d) NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY.— 

20 (1) SURVEY PROGRAM.—The Administrator 

21 shall plan, develop, and implement a Near-Earth 

22 Object Survey program to detect, track, catalogue, 

23 and characterize the physical characteristics of near24 Earth objects equal to or greater than 100 meters 

25 in diameter in order to assess the threat of such 
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1 near-Earth objects to the Earth. It shall be the goal 

2 of the Survey program to achieve 90 percent comple3 tion of its near-Earth object catalogue (based on sta4 tistically predicted populations of near-Earth ob5 jects) within 15 years after the date of enactment of 

6 this Act. 

7 (2) AMENDMENTS.—Section 102 of the Na8 tional Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 

9 U.S.C. 2451) is amended— 

10 (A) by redesignating subsection (g) as sub11 section (h); 

12 (B) by inserting after subsection (f) the 

13 following new subsection: 

14 ‘‘(g) The Congress declares that the general welfare 

15 and security of the United States require that the unique 

16 competence of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad17 ministration be directed to detecting, tracking, cata18 loguing, and characterizing near-Earth asteroids and com19 ets in order to provide warning and mitigation of the po20 tential hazard of such near-Earth objects to the Earth.’’; 

21 and 

22 (C) in subsection (h), as so redesignated 

23 by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, by 

24 striking ‘‘and (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘(f), and (g)’’. 
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1 (3) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Administrator shall 

2 transmit to the Congress, not later than February 

3 28 of each of the next 5 years beginning after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, a report that provides 

5 the following: 

6 (A) A summary of all activities taken pur7 suant to paragraph (1) for the previous fiscal 

8 year. 

9 (B) A summary of expenditures for all ac10 tivities pursuant to paragraph (1) for the pre11 vious fiscal year. 

12 (4) INITIAL REPORT.—The Administrator shall 

13 transmit to Congress not later than 1 year after the 

14 date of enactment of this Act an initial report that 

15 provides the following: 

16 (A) An analysis of possible alternatives 

17 that NASA may employ to carry out the Survey 

18 program, including ground-based and space19 based alternatives with technical descriptions. 

20 (B) A recommended option and proposed 

21 budget to carry out the Survey program pursu22 ant to the recommended option. 

23 (C) An analysis of possible alternatives 

24 that NASA could employ to divert an object on 

25 a likely collision course with Earth. 
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1 TITLE IV—AERONAUTICS 

2 SEC. 401. DEFINITION. 

3 For purposes of this title, the term ‘‘institution of 

4 higher education’’ has the meaning given that term by sec5 tion 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

6 1001). 

7 Subtitle A—National Policy for 

8 Aeronautics Research and De9 velopment 

10 SEC. 411. POLICY. 

11 It shall be the policy of the United States to reaffirm 

12 the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 and its 

13 identification of aeronautical research and development as 

14 a core mission of NASA. Further, it shall be the policy 

15 of the United States to promote aeronautical research and 

16 development that will expand the capacity, ensure the 

17 safety, and increase the efficiency of the Nation’s air 

18 transportation system, promote the security of the Nation, 

19 protect the environment, and retain the leadership of the 

20 United States in global aviation. 
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1 Subtitle B—NASA Aeronautics 

2 Breakthrough Research Initiatives 

3 SEC. 421. ENVIRONMENTAL AIRCRAFT RESEARCH AND DE4 VELOPMENT INITIATIVE. 

5 (a) OBJECTIVE.—The Administrator may establish 

6 an initiative with the objective of developing, and dem7 onstrating in a relevant environment, within 10 years after 

8 the date of enactment of this Act, technologies to enable 

9 the following commercial aircraft performance characteris10 tics: 

11 (1) NOISE.—Noise levels on takeoff and on air12 port approach and landing that do not exceed ambi13 ent noise levels in the absence of flight operations in 

14 the vicinity of airports from which such commercial 

15 aircraft would normally operate. 

16 (2) ENERGY CONSUMPTION.—Twenty-five per17 cent reduction in the energy required for medium to 

18 long range flights, compared to aircraft in commer19 cial service as of the date of enactment of this Act. 

20 This reduction may be achieved by a combination of 

21 improvements to— 

22 (A) specific fuel consumption; 

23 (B) lift-to-drag ratio; and 

24 (C) structural weight fraction. 
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1 (3) EMISSIONS.—Nitrogen oxides on take-off 

2 and landing that are reduced by 50 percent relative 

3 to aircraft in commercial service as of the date of 

4 enactment of this Act. 

5 (b) STUDY.— 

6 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Administrator shall 

7 enter into an arrangement for the National Research 

8 Council to conduct a study to identify and quantify 

9 new markets that would be created, as well as exist10 ing markets that would be expanded, by the incorpo11 ration of the technologies developed pursuant to this 

12 section into future commercial aircraft. The study 

13 shall identify whether any of the performance char14 acteristics specified in subsection (a) would need to 

15 be made more stringent in order to create new mar16 kets or expand existing markets. The National Re17 search Council shall seek input from at least the air18 craft manufacturing industry, academia, and the air19 lines in carrying out the study. 

20 (2) REPORT.—A report containing the results 

21 of the study conducted under paragraph (1) shall be 

22 provided to Congress not later than 18 months after 

23 the date of enactment of this Act. 
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1 SEC. 422. CIVIL SUPERSONIC TRANSPORT RESEARCH AND 

2 DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE. 

3 The Administrator may establish an initiative with 

4 the objective of developing, and demonstrating in a rel5 evant environment, within 20 years after the date of enact6 ment of this Act, technologies to enable overland flight of 

7 supersonic civil transport aircraft with at least the fol8 lowing performance characteristics: 

9 (1) Mach number of at least 1.4. 

10 (2) Range of at least 4,000 nautical miles. 

11 (3) Payload of at least 24 passengers. 

12 (4) Noise levels on takeoff and on airport ap13 proach and landing that meet community noise 

14 standards in place at airports from which such com15 mercial supersonic aircraft would normally operate 

16 at the time the aircraft would enter commercial serv17 ice. 

18 (5) Shaped sonic boom signatures sufficiently 

19 low to permit overland flight over populated areas. 

20 (6) Nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, and water 

21 vapor emissions consistent with regulations likely to 

22 be in effect at the time of this aircraft’s introduc23 tion. 
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1 SEC. 423. ROTORCRAFT AND OTHER RUNWAY-INDE2 PENDENT AIR VEHICLES RESEARCH AND DE3 VELOPMENT INITIATIVE. 

4 The Administrator may establish a rotorcraft and 

5 other runway-independent air vehicles initiative with the 

6 objective of developing and demonstrating in a relevant en7 vironment, within 10 years after the date of enactment 

8 of this Act, technologies to enable significantly safer, 

9 quieter, and more environmentally compatible operation 

10 from a wider range of airports under a wider range of 

11 weather conditions than is the case for rotorcraft and 

12 other runway-independent air vehicles in service as of the 

13 date of enactment of this Act. 

14 Subtitle C—Other NASA Aero15 nautics Research and Develop16 ment Activities 

17 SEC. 431. FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 

18 BASE PROGRAM. 

19 (a) OBJECTIVE.—In order to ensure that the Nation 

20 maintains needed capabilities in fundamental areas of 

21 aeronautical research, the Administrator shall establish a 

22 program of long-term fundamental research in aero23 nautical sciences and technologies that is not tied to spe24 cific development projects. 

25 (b) ASSESSMENT.—The Administrator shall enter 

26 into an arrangement with the National Research Council 
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1 for an assessment of the Nation’s future requirements for 

2 fundamental aeronautics research and whether the Nation 

3 will have a skilled research workforce and research facili4 ties commensurate with those requirements. The assess5 ment shall include an identification of any projected gaps, 

6 and recommendations for what steps should be taken by 

7 the Federal Government to eliminate those gaps. 

8 (c) REPORT.—The Administrator shall transmit the 

9 assessment, along with NASA’s response to the assess10 ment, to Congress not later than 2 years after the date 

11 of enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 432. AIRSPACE SYSTEMS RESEARCH. 

13 (a) OBJECTIVE.—The Airspace Systems Research 

14 program shall pursue research and development to enable 

15 revolutionary improvements to and modernization of the 

16 National Airspace System, as well as to enable the intro17 duction of new systems for vehicles that can take advan18 tage of an improved, modern air transportation system. 

19 (b) ALIGNMENT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

20 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

21 align the projects of the Airspace Systems Research pro22 gram so that they directly support the objectives of the 

23 Joint Planning and Development Office’s Next Generation 

24 Air Transportation System Integrated Plan. 
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1 SEC. 433. AVIATION SAFETY AND SECURITY RESEARCH. 

2 (a) OBJECTIVE.—The Aviation Safety and Security 

3 Research program shall pursue research and development 

4 activities that directly address the safety and security 

5 needs of the National Airspace System and the aircraft 

6 that fly in it. The program shall develop prevention, inter7 vention, and mitigation technologies aimed at causal, con8 tributory, or circumstantial factors of aviation accidents. 

9 (b) PLAN.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

10 enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall transmit 

11 to Congress a 5-year prioritized plan for the research to 

12 be conducted within the Aviation Safety and Security Re13 search program. The plan shall be aligned with the objec14 tives of the Joint Planning and Development Office’s Next 

15 Generation Air Transportation System Integrated Plan. 

16 SEC. 434. ZERO-EMISSIONS AIRCRAFT RESEARCH. 

17 (a) OBJECTIVE.—The Administrator may establish a 

18 zero-emissions aircraft research program whose objective 

19 shall be to develop and test concepts to enable a hydrogen 

20 fuel cell-powered aircraft that would have no hydrocarbon 

21 or nitrogen oxide emissions into the environment. 

22 (b) APPROACH.—The Administrator may establish a 

23 program of competitively awarded grants available to 

24 teams of researchers that may include the participation 

25 of individuals from universities, industry, and government 

26 for the conduct of this research. 
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1 SEC. 435. MARS AIRCRAFT RESEARCH. 

2 (a) OBJECTIVE.—The Administrator may establish a 

3 Mars Aircraft project whose objective shall be to develop 

4 and test concepts for an uncrewed aircraft that could oper5 ate for sustained periods in the atmosphere of Mars. 

6 (b) APPROACH.—The Administrator may establish a 

7 program of competitively awarded grants available to 

8 teams of researchers that may include the participation 

9 of individuals from universities, industry, and government 

10 for the conduct of this research. 

11 SEC. 436. HYPERSONICS RESEARCH. 

12 The Administrator may establish a hypersonics re13 search program whose objective shall be to explore the 

14 science and technology of hypersonic flight using air15 breathing propulsion concepts, through a mix of theo16 retical work, basic and applied research, and development 

17 of flight research demonstration vehicles. 

18 SEC. 437. NASA AERONAUTICS SCHOLARSHIPS. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall es20 tablish a program of scholarships for full-time graduate 

21 students who are United States citizens and are enrolled 

22 in, or have been accepted by and have indicated their in23 tention to enroll in, accredited Masters degree programs 

24 in aeronautical engineering at institutions of higher edu25 cation. Each such scholarship shall cover the costs of 
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1 room, board, tuition, and fees, and may be provided for 

2 a maximum of 2 years. 

3 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

5 shall publish regulations governing the scholarship pro6 gram under this section. 

7 (c) COOPERATIVE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES.—Stu8 dents who have been awarded a scholarship under this sec9 tion shall have the opportunity for paid employment at 

10 one of the NASA Centers engaged in aeronautics research 

11 and development during the summer prior to the first year 

12 of the student’s Masters program, and between the first 

13 and second year, if applicable. 

14 SEC. 438. AVIATION WEATHER RESEARCH. 

15 The Administrator may carry out a program of col16 laborative research with the National Oceanic and Atmos17 pheric Administration on convective weather events, with 

18 the goal of significantly improving the reliability of 2-hour 

19 to 6-hour aviation weather forecasts. 

20 SEC. 439. ASSESSMENT OF WAKE TURBULENCE RESEARCH 

21 AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 

22 (a) ASSESSMENT.—The Administrator may enter 

23 into an arrangement with the National Research Council 

24 for an assessment of Federal wake turbulence research 
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1 and development programs. The assessment shall address 

2 at least the following questions: 

3 (1) Are the Federal research and development 

4 goals and objectives well defined? 

5 (2) Are there any deficiencies in the Federal re6 search and development goals and objectives? 

7 (3) What roles should be played by each of the 

8 relevant Federal agencies, such as NASA, the Fed9 eral Aviation Administration, and the National Oce10 anic and Atmospheric Administration, in wake tur11 bulence research and development? 

12 (b) REPORT.—A report containing the results of the 

13 assessment conducted pursuant to subsection (a) shall be 

14 provided to Congress not later than 1 year after the date 

15 of enactment of this Act. 

16 SEC. 440. UNIVERSITY-BASED CENTERS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may award 

18 grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia 

19 thereof) to establish one or more centers for the purpose 

20 described in subsection (b). 

21 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the centers is to con22 duct basic and applied research on the impact of new tech23 nologies and procedures, particularly those related to aero24 nautical navigation and control. 
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1 (c) APPLICATION.—An institution of higher edu2 cation (or a consortium of such institutions) seeking fund3 ing under this section shall submit an application to the 

4 Administrator at such time, in such manner, and con5 taining such information as the Administrator may re6 quire, including, at a minimum, a 5-year research plan. 

7 (d) AWARD DURATION.—An award made by the Ad8 ministrator under this section shall be for a period of 5 

9 years and may be renewed on the basis of— 

10 (1) satisfactory performance in meeting the 

11 goals of the research plan proposed by the Center in 

12 its application under subsection (c); and 

13 (2) other requirements as specified by the Ad14 ministrator. 

15 TITLE V—HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT 

16 SEC. 501. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION COMPLETION. 

17 (a) ELEMENTS, CAPABILITIES, AND CONFIGURATION

18 CRITERIA.—The Administrator shall ensure that the ISS 

19 will be able to— 

20 (1) be used for a diverse range of microgravity 

21 research, including fundamental, applied, and com22 mercial research; 

23 (2) have an ability to support crew size of at 

24 least 6 persons, unless the Administrator transmits 

25 a report to the Committee on Science of the House 
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1 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

2 Science, and Transportation of the Senate prior to 

3 awarding a development contract for the Crew Ex4 ploration Vehicle, explaining why such a requirement 

5 should not be met and the impact of not meeting the 

6 requirement on the ISS research agenda and oper7 ations; 

8 (3) support Crew Exploration Vehicle docking 

9 and automated docking of cargo vehicles or modules 

10 launched by either heavy-lift or commercially-devel11 oped launch vehicles; and 

12 (4) be operated at an appropriate risk level. 

13 (b) CONTINGENCY PLAN.—The transportation plan 

14 to support ISS shall include contingency options to ensure 

15 sufficient logistics and on-orbit capabilities to support any 

16 potential period during which the Space Shuttle or its fol17 low-on crew and cargo systems is unavailable, and require 

18 sufficient surge delivery capability or prepositioning of 

19 spares and other supplies needed to accommodate any 

20 such hiatus. 

21 (c) CERTIFICATION.—Not later than 60 days after 

22 the date of enactment of this Act, and before making any 

23 change in the ISS assembly sequence in effect on the date 

24 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall certify 

25 in writing to the Committee on Science of the House of 
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1 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

2 Science, and Transportation of the Senate NASA’s plan 

3 to meet the requirements of subsections (a) and (b). 

4 (d) CENTRIFUGE.—Nothing in this Act shall be con5 strued to prohibit the installation of the centrifuge on the 

6 ISS. 

7 SEC. 502. HUMAN EXPLORATION PRIORITIES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall— 

9 (1) construct an architecture and implementa10 tion plan for NASA’s human exploration program 

11 that is not critically dependent on the achievement 

12 of milestones by fixed dates; and 

13 (2) determine the relative priority of each of the 

14 potential elements of NASA’s implementation plan 

15 for its human exploration program in case funding 

16 shortfalls or cost growth necessitate the adjustment 

17 of NASA’s implementation plan. 

18 (b) PRIORITIES.—Development of a Crew Explo19 ration Vehicle with a robust crew escape system, develop20 ment of a launch system for the Crew Exploration Vehicle, 

21 and definition of an overall architecture and prioritized 

22 implementation plan shall be the highest priorities of the 

23 human exploration program over the period governed by 

24 this Act. 
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1 SEC. 503. GAO ASSESSMENT. 

2 Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, the Comptroller General shall transmit to the 

4 Committee on Science of the House of Representatives 

5 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor6 tation of the Senate an assessment of the milestones and 

7 estimated costs of the plans submitted under section 

8 102(a)(7). 

9 TITLE VI—OTHER PROGRAM 

10 AREAS 

11 Subtitle A—Space and Flight 

12 Support 

13 SEC. 601. ORBITAL DEBRIS. 

14 The Administrator, in conjunction with the heads of 

15 other Federal agencies, shall take steps to develop or ac16 quire technologies that will enable NASA to decrease the 

17 risks associated with orbital debris. 

18 SEC. 602. SECONDARY PAYLOAD CAPABILITY. 

19 The Administrator is encouraged to provide the capa20 bilities to support secondary payloads on United States 

21 launch vehicles, including freeflyers, for satellites or sci22 entific payloads. 
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1 Subtitle B—Education 

2 SEC. 611. INSTITUTIONS IN NASA’S MINORITY INSTITU3 TIONS PROGRAM. 

4 The matter appearing under the heading ‘‘NATIONAL

5 AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION, SMALL AND

6 DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS’’ in title III of the Depart7 ments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Devel8 opment, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 

9 1990 (42 U.S.C. 2473b; 103 Stat. 863) is amended by 

10 striking ‘‘Historically Black Colleges and Universities 

11 and’’ and inserting ‘‘Historically Black Colleges and Uni12 versities that are part B institutions (as defined in section 

13 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

14 1061(2))), Hispanic-serving institutions (as defined in sec15 tion 502(a)(5) of that Act (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(5))), Trib16 al Colleges or Universities (as defined in section 316(b)(3) 

17 of that Act (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)(3))), Alaskan Native18 serving institutions (as defined in section 317(b)(2) of 

19 that Act (20 U.S.C. 1059d)(b)(2))), Native Hawaiian20 serving institutions (as defined in section 317(b)(4) of 

21 that Act (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b)(4))), and’’. 

22 SEC. 612. PROGRAM TO EXPAND DISTANCE LEARNING IN 

23 RURAL UNDERSERVED AREAS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall develop 

25 or expand programs to extend science and space edu-
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1 cational outreach to rural communities and schools 

2 through video conferencing, interpretive exhibits, teacher 

3 education, classroom presentations, and student field 

4 trips. 

5 (b) PRIORITIES.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

6 Administrator shall give priority to existing programs— 

7 (1) that utilize community-based partnerships 

8 in the field; 

9 (2) that build and maintain video conference 

10 and exhibit capacity; 

11 (3) that travel directly to rural communities 

12 and serve low-income populations; and 

13 (4) with a special emphasis on increasing the 

14 number of women and minorities in the science and 

15 engineering professions. 

16 SEC. 613. CHARLES ‘‘PETE’’ CONRAD ASTRONOMY AWARDS. 

17 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 

18 ‘‘Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad Astronomy Awards Act’’. 

19 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this sec20 tion— 

21 (1) the term ‘‘amateur astronomer’’ means an 

22 individual whose employer does not provide any 

23 funding, payment, or compensation to the individual 

24 for the observation of asteroids and other celestial 
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1 bodies, and does not include any individual employed 

2 as a professional astronomer; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘Minor Planet Center’’ means the 

4 Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian Astro5 physical Observatory; 

6 (3) the term ‘‘near-Earth asteroid’’ means an 

7 asteroid with a perihelion distance of less than 1.3 

8 Astronomical Units from the Sun; and 

9 (4) the term ‘‘Program’’ means the Charles 

10 ‘‘Pete’’ Conrad Astronomy Awards Program estab11 lished under subsection (c). 

12 (c) PETE CONRAD ASTRONOMY AWARD PROGRAM.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es14 tablish the Charles ‘‘Pete’’ Conrad Astronomy 

15 Awards Program. 

16 (2) AWARDS.—The Administrator shall make 

17 awards under the Program based on the rec18 ommendations of the Minor Planet Center. 

19 (3) AWARD CATEGORIES.—The Administrator 

20 shall make one annual award, unless there are no el21 igible discoveries or contributions, for each of the 

22 following categories: 

23 (A) The amateur astronomer or group of 

24 amateur astronomers who in the preceding cal25 endar year discovered the intrinsically brightest 
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1 near-Earth asteroid among the near-Earth as2 teroids that were discovered during that year by 

3 amateur astronomers or groups of amateur as4 tronomers. 

5 (B) The amateur astronomer or group of 

6 amateur astronomers who made the greatest 

7 contribution to the Minor Planet Center’s mis8 sion of cataloguing near-Earth asteroids during 

9 the preceding year. 

10 (4) AWARD AMOUNT.—An award under the 

11 Program shall be in the amount of $3,000. 

12 (5) GUIDELINES.—(A) No individual who is not 

13 a citizen or permanent resident of the United States 

14 at the time of his discovery or contribution may re15 ceive an award under this section. 

16 (B) The decisions of the Administrator in mak17 ing awards under this section are final. 

18 SEC. 614. REVIEW OF EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall enter 

20 into an arrangement with the National Research Council 

21 of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a review 

22 and evaluation of NASA’s science, technology, engineer23 ing, and mathematics education program. The review and 

24 evaluation shall be documented in a report to the Adminis25 trator and shall include such recommendations as the Na-
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1 tional Research Council determines will improve the effec2 tiveness of the program. 

3 (b) REVIEW.—The review and evaluation under sub4 section (a) shall include— 

5 (1) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the 

6 overall program in meeting its defined goals and ob7 jectives; 

8 (2) an assessment of the quality and edu9 cational effectiveness of the major components of the 

10 program, including an evaluation of the adequacy of 

11 assessment metrics and data collection requirements 

12 available for determining the effectiveness of indi13 vidual projects; 

14 (3) an evaluation of the funding priorities in 

15 the program, including a review of the funding level 

16 and funding trend for each major component of the 

17 program and an assessment of whether the resources 

18 made available are consistent with meeting identified 

19 goals and priorities; and 

20 (4) a determination of the extent and the effec21 tiveness of coordination and collaboration between 

22 NASA and other Federal agencies that sponsor 

23 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

24 education activities. 
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1 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 

2 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ad3 ministrator shall transmit to the Committee on Science 

4 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

5 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate the 

6 report required under subsection (a). 

7 SEC. 615. EQUAL ACCESS TO NASA’S EDUCATION PRO8 GRAMS. 

9 The Administrator shall strive to ensure equal access 

10 for minority and economically disadvantaged students to 

11 NASA’s Education programs. Not later than 1 year after 

12 the date of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years there13 after, the Administrator shall submit a report to the Com14 mittee on Science of the House of Representatives and the 

15 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

16 the Senate describing the efforts by the Administrator to 

17 ensure equal access for minority and economically dis18 advantaged students under this section, and the results 

19 of such efforts. As part of the report, the Administrator 

20 shall provide data on minority participation in NASA’s 

21 education programs, at a minimum in the following cat22 egories: elementary and secondary education, under23 graduate education, and graduate education. 
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1 SEC. 616. MUSEUMS. 

2 The Administrator may provide grants to, and enter 

3 into cooperative agreements with museums and planetar4 iums to enable them to enhance programs related to space 

5 exploration, aeronautics, space science, earth science, or 

6 microgravity. 

7 SEC. 617. REVIEW OF MUST PROGRAM. 

8 Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 

9 of this Act, the Administrator shall transmit a report to 

10 Congress on the legal status of the Motivating Under11 graduates in Science and Technology program. If the re12 port concludes that the program is in compliance with the 

13 laws of the United States, NASA shall implement the pro14 gram, as planned in the July 5, 2005 National Research 

15 Announcement. 

16 TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS 

17 AMENDMENTS 

18 SEC. 701. RETROCESSION OF JURISDICTION. 

19 The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 

20 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

21 of title III the following new section: 

22 ‘‘RETROCESSION OF JURISDICTION

23 ‘‘SEC. 316. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision 

24 of law, the Administrator may relinquish to a State all 

25 or part of the legislative jurisdiction of the United States 
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1 over lands or interests under the control of the Adminis2 trator in that State. 

3 ‘‘(b) For purposes of this section, the term ‘State’ 

4 means any of the several States, the District of Columbia, 

5 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Vir6 gin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mar7 iana Islands, and any other commonwealth, territory, or 

8 possession of the United States.’’. 

9 SEC. 702. EXTENSION OF INDEMNIFICATION. 

10 Section 309 of the National Aeronautics and Space 

11 Act of 1958 (42 U.S.C. 2458c) is amended in subsection 

12 (f)(1) by striking ‘‘December 31, 2002’’ through ‘‘Sep13 tember 30, 2005’’ and inserting, ‘‘December 31, 2010, ex14 cept that the Administrator may extend the termination 

15 date to a date not later than September 30, 2015, if the 

16 Administrator has entered into an arrangement with the 

17 National Academy of Public Administration to determine 

18 the impact on private parties and the Federal Government 

19 of eliminating this section’’. 

20 SEC. 703. NASA SCHOLARSHIPS. 

21 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 9809 of title 5, United 

22 States Code, is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (a)(2) by striking ‘‘Act.’’ and 

24 inserting ‘‘Act (42 U.S.C. 1885a or 1885b).’’; 
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1 (2) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘require.’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘require to carry out this section.’’; 

3 (3) in subsection (f)(1) by striking the last sen4 tence; and 

5 (4) in subsection (g)(2) by striking ‘‘Treasurer 

6 of the’’ and all that follows through ‘‘by 3’’ and in7 serting ‘‘Treasurer of the United States’’. 

8 (b) REPEAL.—The Vision 100—Century of Aviation 

9 Reauthorization Act is amended by striking section 703 

10 (42 U.S.C. 2473e). 

11 SEC. 704. INDEPENDENT COST ANALYSIS. 

12 Section 301 of the National Aeronautics and Space 

13 Administration Authorization Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 

14 2459g) is amended— 

15 (1) by striking ‘‘Phase B’’ in subsection (a) and 

16 inserting ‘‘implementation’’; 

17 (2) by striking ‘‘Chief Financial Officer’’ each 

18 place it appears in subsection (a) and inserting ‘‘Ad19 ministrator’’; 

20 (3) by inserting ‘‘and consider’’ in subsection 

21 (a) after ‘‘shall conduct’’; and 

22 (4) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION DEFINED.—In this section, 

25 the term ‘implementation’ means all activity in the life 
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1 cycle of a project after preliminary design, independent as2 sessment of the preliminary design, and approval to pro3 ceed into implementation, including critical design, devel4 opment, certification, launch, operations, disposal of as5 sets, and, for technology programs, development, testing, 

6 analysis and communication of the results.’’. 

7 SEC. 705. LIMITATIONS ON OFF-SHORE PERFORMANCE OF 

8 CONTRACTS FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF 

9 GOODS AND SERVICES. 

10 (a) CONVERSIONS TO CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE

11 OF ADMINISTRATION ACTIVITIES.—Except as provided in 

12 subsection (c), an activity or function of the Administra13 tion that is converted to contractor performance under Of14 fice of Management and Budget Circular A–76 may not 

15 be performed by the contractor or any subcontractor at 

16 a location outside the United States. 

17 (b) CONTRACTS FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF SERV18 ICES.—(1) Except as provided in subsection (c), a contract 

19 for the procurement of goods or services that is entered 

20 into by the Administrator may not be performed outside 

21 the United States unless it is to meet a requirement of 

22 the Administration for goods or services specifically at a 

23 location outside the United States. 

24 (2) The President may waive the prohibition in para25 graph (1) in the case of any contract for which the Presi-
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1 dent determines in writing that it is necessary in the na2 tional security interests of the United States for goods or 

3 services under the contract to be performed outside the 

4 United States. 

5 (3) The Administrator may waive the prohibition in 

6 paragraph (1) in the case of any contract for which the 

7 Administrator determines in writing that essential goods 

8 or services under the contract are only available from a 

9 source outside the United States. 

10 (c) EXCEPTION.—Subsections (a) and (b)(1) shall 

11 not apply to the extent that the activity or function under 

12 the contract was previously performed by Federal Govern13 ment employees outside the United States. 

14 (d) CONSISTENCY WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREE15 MENTS.—The provisions of this section shall not apply to 

16 the extent that they are inconsistent with obligations of 

17 the United States under international agreements. 

18 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Administrator shall sub19 mit to Congress, not later than 120 days after the end 

20 of each fiscal year, a report on the contracts performed 

21 overseas and amount of purchases by NASA from foreign 

22 entities in that fiscal year. Such report shall separately 

23 indicate the dollar value of contracts for which the provi24 sions of this section were waived and the dollar value of 

25 items for which the Buy American Act was waived pursu-
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1 ant to obligations of the United States under international 

2 agreements. 

3 SEC. 706. LONG DURATION FLIGHT. 

4 No provision of this or any other Act shall be con5 strued to prohibit NASA from accommodating the exercise 

6 of religion by astronauts engaged in long duration space 

7 flight missions. 

8 TITLE VIII—INDEPENDENT 

9 COMMISSIONS 

10 SEC. 801. DEFINITIONS. 

11 For purposes of this title— 

12 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means a Commis13 sion established under this title; and 

14 (2) the term ‘‘incident’’ means either an acci15 dent or a deliberate act. 

16 Subtitle A—International Space 

17 Station Independent Safety 

18 Commission 

19 SEC. 811. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 

20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish 

21 an independent, nonpartisan Commission within the exec22 utive branch to discover and assess any vulnerabilities of 

23 the International Space Station that could lead to its de24 struction, compromise the health of its crew, or necessitate 

25 its premature abandonment. 
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1 (b) DEADLINE FOR ESTABLISHMENT.—The Presi2 dent shall issue an executive order establishing a Commis3 sion within 30 days after the date of enactment of this 

4 Act. 

5 SEC. 812. TASKS OF THE COMMISSION. 

6 The Commission established under section 811 shall, 

7 to the extent possible, undertake the following tasks: 

8 (1) Catalog threats to and vulnerabilities of the 

9 ISS, including design flaws, natural phenomena, 

10 computer software or hardware flaws, sabotage or 

11 terrorist attack, number of crewmembers, and inabil12 ity to adequately deliver replacement parts and sup13 plies, and management or procedural deficiencies. 

14 (2) Make recommendations for corrective ac15 tions. 

16 (3) Provide any additional findings or rec17 ommendations related to ISS safety. 

18 (4) Prepare a report to Congress, the Presi19 dent, and the public. 

20 SEC. 813. SUNSET. 

21 The Commission established under this subtitle shall 

22 transmit its final report not later than 1 year after the 

23 date on which the full Commission membership is ap24 pointed. 
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1 Subtitle B—Human Space Flight 

2 Independent Investigation Com3 mission 

4 SEC. 821. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish 

6 an independent, nonpartisan Commission within the exec7 utive branch to investigate any incident that results in the 

8 loss of— 

9 (1) a Space Shuttle; 

10 (2) the International Space Station or its oper11 ational viability; 

12 (3) any other United States space vehicle car13 rying humans that is owned by the Federal Govern14 ment or that is being used pursuant to a contract 

15 with the Federal Government; or 

16 (4) a crew member or passenger of any space 

17 vehicle described in this subsection. 

18 (b) DEADLINE FOR ESTABLISHMENT.—The Presi19 dent shall issue an executive order establishing a Commis20 sion within 7 days after an incident specified in subsection 

21 (a). 

22 SEC. 822. TASKS OF THE COMMISSION. 

23 A Commission established pursuant to this subtitle 

24 shall, to the extent possible, undertake the following tasks: 

25 (1) Investigate the incident. 
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1 (2) Determine the cause of the incident. 

2 (3) Identify all contributing factors to the cause 

3 of the incident. 

4 (4) Make recommendations for corrective ac5 tions. 

6 (5) Provide any additional findings or rec7 ommendations deemed by the Commission to be im8 portant, whether or not they are related to the spe9 cific incident under investigation. 

10 (6) Prepare a report to Congress, the Presi11 dent, and the public. 

12 Subtitle C—Organization and 

13 Operation of Commissions 

14 SEC. 831. COMPOSITION OF COMMISSIONS. 

15 (a) NUMBER OF COMMISSIONERS.—A Commission 

16 established pursuant to this title shall consist of 15 mem17 bers. 

18 (b) SELECTION.—The members of a Commission 

19 shall be chosen in the following manner: 

20 (1) The President shall appoint the members, 

21 and shall designate the Chairman and Vice Chair22 man of the Commission from among its members. 

23 (2) Four of the 15 members appointed by the 

24 President shall be selected by the President in the 

25 following manner: 
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1 (A) The majority leader of the Senate, the 

2 minority leader of the Senate, the Speaker of 

3 the House of Representatives, and the minority 

4 leader of the House of Representatives shall 

5 each provide to the President a list of can6 didates for membership on the Commission. 

7 (B) The President shall select one of the 

8 candidates from each of the 4 lists for member9 ship on the Commission. 

10 (3) In the case of a Commission established 

11 under subtitle A, the President shall select one can12 didate from a list of candidates for membership on 

13 the Commission provided by the President of the col14 lective-bargaining organization including the largest 

15 number of NASA engineers. 

16 (4) No officer or employee of the Federal Gov17 ernment shall serve as a member of the Commission. 

18 (5) No member of the Commission shall have, 

19 or have pending, a contractual relationship with 

20 NASA. 

21 (6) The President shall not appoint any indi22 vidual as a member of a Commission under this sec23 tion who has a current or former relationship with 

24 the Administrator that the President determines 

25 would constitute a conflict of interest. 
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1 (7) To the extent practicable, the President 

2 shall ensure that the members of the Commission in3 clude some individuals with experience relative to 

4 human carrying spacecraft, as well as some individ5 uals with investigative experience and some individ6 uals with legal experience. 

7 (8) To the extent practicable, the President 

8 shall seek diversity in the membership of the Com9 mission. 

10 (9) The President may waive the prohibitions in 

11 paragraphs (5) and (6) with respect to the selection 

12 of not more than two members of a Commission es13 tablished under subtitle A. 

14 (c) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—All members of 

15 a Commission established under subtitle A shall be ap16 pointed no later than 60 days after issuance of the execu17 tive order establishing the Commission. All members of a 

18 Commission established under subtitle B shall be ap19 pointed no later than 30 days after the incident. 

20 (d) INITIAL MEETING.—A Commission shall meet 

21 and begin operations as soon as practicable. 

22 (e) QUORUM; VACANCIES.—After its initial meeting, 

23 a Commission shall meet upon the call of the Chairman 

24 or a majority of its members. Eight members of a Com25 mission shall constitute a quorum. Any vacancy in a Com-
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1 mission shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled in 

2 the same manner in which the original appointment was 

3 made. 

4 SEC. 832. POWERS OF COMMISSION. 

5 (a) HEARINGS AND EVIDENCE.—A Commission or, 

6 on the authority of the Commission, any subcommittee or 

7 member thereof, may, for the purpose of carrying out this 

8 title— 

9 (1) hold such hearings and sit and act at such 

10 times and places, take such testimony, receive such 

11 evidence, administer such oaths; and 

12 (2) require, by subpoena or otherwise, the at13 tendance and testimony of such witnesses and the 

14 production of such books, records, correspondence, 

15 memoranda, papers, and documents, 

16 as the Commission or such designated subcommittee or 

17 designated member may determine advisable. 

18 (b) CONTRACTING.—A Commission may, to such ex19 tent and in such amounts as are provided in appropriation 

20 Acts, enter into contracts to enable the Commission to dis21 charge its duties under this title. 

22 (c) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Commission may secure 

24 directly from any executive department, bureau, 

25 agency, board, commission, office, independent es-
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1 tablishment, or instrumentality of the Government, 

2 information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics 

3 for the purposes of this title. Each department, bu4 reau, agency, board, commission, office, independent 

5 establishment, or instrumentality shall, to the extent 

6 authorized by law, furnish such information, sugges7 tions, estimates, and statistics directly to the Com8 mission, upon request made by the Chairman, the 

9 chairman of any subcommittee created by a majority 

10 of the Commission, or any member designated by a 

11 majority of the Commission. 

12 (2) RECEIPT, HANDLING, STORAGE, AND DIS13 SEMINATION.—Information shall only be received, 

14 handled, stored, and disseminated by members of 

15 the Commission and its staff consistent with all ap16 plicable statutes, regulations, and Executive orders. 

17 (d) ASSISTANCE FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

18 (1) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION.— 

19 The Administrator of General Services shall provide 

20 to a Commission on a reimbursable basis adminis21 trative support and other services for the perform22 ance of the Commission’s tasks. 

23 (2) OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES.—In 

24 addition to the assistance prescribed in paragraph 

25 (1), departments and agencies of the United States 
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1 may provide to the Commission such services, funds, 

2 facilities, staff, and other support services as they 

3 may determine advisable and as may be authorized 

4 by law. 

5 (3) NASA ENGINEERING AND SAFETY CEN6 TER.—The NASA Engineering and Safety Center 

7 shall provide data and technical support as re8 quested by a Commission. 

9 SEC. 833. PUBLIC MEETINGS, INFORMATION, AND HEAR10 INGS. 

11 (a) PUBLIC MEETINGS AND RELEASE OF PUBLIC

12 VERSIONS OF REPORTS.—A Commission shall— 

13 (1) hold public hearings and meetings to the ex14 tent appropriate; and 

15 (2) release public versions of the reports re16 quired under this Act. 

17 (b) PUBLIC HEARINGS.—Any public hearings of a 

18 Commission shall be conducted in a manner consistent 

19 with the protection of information provided to or developed 

20 for or by the Commission as required by any applicable 

21 statute, regulation, or Executive order. 

22 SEC. 834. STAFF OF COMMISSION. 

23 (a) APPOINTMENT AND COMPENSATION.—The 

24 Chairman, in consultation with Vice Chairman, in accord25 ance with rules agreed upon by a Commission, may ap-
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1 point and fix the compensation of a staff director and such 

2 other personnel as may be necessary to enable the Com3 mission to carry out its functions. 

4 (b) DETAILEES.—Any Federal Government em5 ployee, except for an employee of NASA, may be detailed 

6 to a Commission without reimbursement from the Com7 mission, and such detailee shall retain the rights, status, 

8 and privileges of his or her regular employment without 

9 interruption. 

10 (c) CONSULTANT SERVICES.—A Commission may 

11 procure the services of experts and consultants in accord12 ance with section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, but 

13 at rates not to exceed the daily rate paid a person occu14 pying a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule 

15 under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code. Any 

16 consultant or expert whose services are procured under 

17 this subsection shall disclose any contract or association 

18 it has with NASA or any NASA contractor. 

19 SEC. 835. COMPENSATION AND TRAVEL EXPENSES. 

20 (a) COMPENSATION.—Each member of a Commission 

21 may be compensated at not to exceed the daily equivalent 

22 of the annual rate of basic pay in effect for a position 

23 at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 

24 of title 5, United States Code, for each day during which 
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1 that member is engaged in the actual performance of the 

2 duties of the Commission. 

3 (b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—While away from their 

4 homes or regular places of business in the performance 

5 of services for the Commission, members of a Commission 

6 shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu 

7 of subsistence, in the same manner as persons employed 

8 intermittently in the Government service are allowed ex9 penses under section 5703(b) of title 5, United States 

10 Code. 

11 SEC. 836. SECURITY CLEARANCES FOR COMMISSION MEM12 BERS AND STAFF. 

13 The appropriate Federal agencies or departments 

14 shall cooperate with a Commission in expeditiously pro15 viding to the Commission members and staff appropriate 

16 security clearances to the extent possible pursuant to ex17 isting procedures and requirements. No person shall be 

18 provided with access to classified information under this 

19 title without the appropriate security clearances. 

20 SEC. 837. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND TERMINATION. 

21 (a) INTERIM REPORTS.—A Commission may submit 

22 to the President and Congress interim reports containing 

23 such findings, conclusions, and recommendations for cor24 rective actions as have been agreed to by a majority of 

25 Commission members. 
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1 (b) FINAL REPORT.—A Commission shall submit to 

2 the President and Congress, and make concurrently avail3 able to the public, a final report containing such findings, 

4 conclusions, and recommendations for corrective actions 

5 as have been agreed to by a majority of Commission mem6 bers. Such report shall include any minority views or opin7 ions not reflected in the majority report. 

8 (c) TERMINATION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Commission, and all the 

10 authorities of this title with respect to that Commis11 sion, shall terminate 60 days after the date on which 

12 the final report is submitted under subsection (b). 

13 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES BEFORE TER14 MINATION.—A Commission may use the 60-day pe15 riod referred to in paragraph (1) for the purpose of 

16 concluding its activities, including providing testi17 mony to committees of Congress concerning its re18 ports and disseminating the final report. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 22, 2005. 

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL, 

Clerk.