I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3057

To restore a vision for the United States human space flight program by 

instituting a series of incremental goals that will facilitate the scientific 

exploration of the solar system and aid in the search for life elsewhere 

in the universe, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2003

Mr. LAMPSON (for himself, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. BELL, Mr. 

HONDA, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. EVANS, Ms. LINDA T. 

SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. HALL, Mr. REYES, Mr. 

ISRAEL, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. 

COSTELLO, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. GORDON, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. 

LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. FROST, Mr. 

SANDLIN, Mr. TURNER of Texas, Mr. WU, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. ESHOO, 

and Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Science 

A BILL

To restore a vision for the United States human space flight 

program by instituting a series of incremental goals that 

will facilitate the scientific exploration of the solar system 

and aid in the search for life elsewhere in the universe, 

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. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Space Exploration Act 

3 of 2003’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) It is in the national interest of the United 

7 States to have a vigorous, outward-looking program 

8 of space exploration, encompassing both robotic 

9 spacecraft missions and human space flight. 

10 (2) The United States has achieved major ac11 complishments in its human space flight program 

12 over the last 4 decades, including the first crewed 

13 lunar landing, the first reusable crewed Space Shut14 tle, and the first truly international Space Station. 

15 (3) There currently is no commitment to the ac16 complishment of any challenging goals in human 

17 space flight after the completion of the International 

18 Space Station. 

19 (4) While a significant amount of scientific re20 search can and should be accomplished by robotic 

21 means, a comprehensive plan of scientific exploration 

22 of the solar system and search for life beyond Earth 

23 will require both robotic spacecraft missions and 

24 human space flight to achieve its goals. 

25 (5) Properly coordinated, the Nation’s human 

26 space flight program does not compete with robotic 
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1 exploration but instead complements it and provides 

2 additional capabilities for scientific research. 

3 (6) The successful repair and servicing of the 

4 Hubble Space Telescope demonstrates the potential 

5 for the productive participation of the human space 

6 flight program in advancing the goals of scientific 

7 exploration. 

8 (7) There have been numerous commissions and 

9 study panels over the last 30 years that have articu10 lated goals for the future of human space flight, and 

11 additional studies to establish goals are not needed 

12 at this time. 

13 (8) While there are significant technical and 

14 programmatic hurdles to be overcome in carrying 

15 out human space flight activities beyond low Earth 

16 orbit, the main hurdle to be overcome is the lack of 

17 a national commitment to such activities. 

18 (9) In the absence of a commitment to specific 

19 and challenging human space flight goals, programs 

20 to develop generic technological capabilities for 

21 human space flight are likely to be unfocused, ineffi22 cient, and short-lived. 

23 (10) It is in the national interest of the United 

24 States to commit to a challenging set of incremental 

25 goals for the Nation’s human space flight program 
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1 in order to facilitate the scientific exploration of the 

2 solar system and aid in the search for life beyond 

3 Earth and to commit to the attainment of those 

4 goals. 

5 (11) While the ultimate goal of human space 

6 flight in the inner solar system is the exploration of 

7 the planet Mars, there are other important goals for 

8 exploration of the inner solar system that will ad9 vance our scientific understanding and allow the 

10 United States to develop and demonstrate capabili11 ties that will be needed for the scientific exploration 

12 and eventual settlement of Mars. 

13 (12) A bold and sustained human space flight 

14 initiative of scientific exploration should contain pro15 gressively more challenging objectives, including mis16 sions to the Earth-Sun libration points, Earth-orbit 

17 crossing asteroids, the lunar surface, the satellites of 

18 Mars, and the surface of Mars. 

19 (13) A human space flight initiative with incre20 mental goals and milestones will allow a continuing 

21 series of accomplishments to be achieved throughout 

22 the duration of the initiative, permit the ‘‘lessons 

23 learned’’ and capabilities acquired from previous im24 plementation steps to be incorporated into subse25 quent phases of the initiative, and allow adjustments 
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1 to be made to the implementation of the initiative as 

2 new opportunities or challenges arise. 

3 (14) The National Aeronautics and Space Ad4 ministration should develop a roadmap and imple5 mentation plan for a progressive program of human 

6 space flight beyond low Earth orbit in support of the 

7 scientific exploration of the solar system and the 

8 search for life beyond Earth. 

9 (15) This new initiative in space exploration 

10 should not come at the expense of existing and 

11 planned investments in the National Aeronautics 

12 and Space Administration’s human space flight and 

13 space transportation programs, which all should be 

14 leveraged to help advance the goals of the human 

15 space flight initiative while avoiding duplication of 

16 effort. 

17 (16) The President should ensure that suffi18 cient resources are provided to the National Aero19 nautics and Space Administration and that appro20 priate financial management controls are in place to 

21 ensure that the implementation plan can be carried 

22 out in a timely and cost-effective manner. 

23 (17) The United States captured the imagina24 tion of the peoples of the world and inspired a gen25 eration of young people to enter careers in science 
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1 and engineering when it successfully landed humans 

2 on the surface of the Moon in the years 1969 

3 through 1972. 

4 (18) A bold and sustained human space explo5 ration initiative has the potential to inspire a new 

6 generation of young people in the same way as the 

7 Apollo program did. 

8 (19) Properly constructed, a bold and sustained 

9 human space exploration initiative has the potential 

10 to engage the international community in peaceful 

11 cooperation in space. 

12 (20) Completion of the International Space Sta13 tion with a full crew complement of 7 astronauts 

14 and robust research capabilities is essential if the 

15 United States is to carry out successfully a com16 prehensive initiative of scientific exploration of the 

17 solar system that involves human space flight. 

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITION. 

19 For purposes of this Act the term ‘‘Administrator’’ 

20 means the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and 

21 Space Administration. 

22 SEC. 4. HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT INITIATIVE. 

23 (a) GOALS.—The Administrator shall set the fol24 lowing goals for the future activities of the National Aero-
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1 nautics and Space Administration’s human space flight 

2 program: 

3 (1) Within 8 years after the date of enactment 

4 of this Act, the development and flight demonstra5 tion of a reusable space vehicle capable of carrying 

6 humans from low Earth orbit to the L 1 and L 2 

7 Earth-Sun libration points and back for the pur8 poses of assembling large-scale space structures such 

9 as would be required for scientific observatories, to 

10 the Earth-Moon libration points and back, and to 

11 lunar orbit and back. 

12 (2) Within 10 years after the date of enactment 

13 of this Act, the development and flight demonstra14 tion of a reusable space vehicle capable of carrying 

15 humans from low Earth orbit to and from an Earth16 orbit crossing asteroid and rendezvousing with it. 

17 (3) Within 15 years after the date of enactment 

18 of this Act, the development and flight demonstra19 tion of a reusable space vehicle capable of carrying 

20 humans from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon 

21 and back, as well as the development and deploy22 ment of a human-tended habitation and research fa23 cility on the lunar surface. 

24 (4) Within 20 years after the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, the development and flight demonstra-
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1 tion of a reusable space vehicle capable of carrying 

2 humans from low Earth orbit to and from Martian 

3 orbit, the development and deployment of a human4 tended habitation and research facility on the sur5 face of one of the moons of Mars, and the develop6 ment and flight demonstration of a reusable space 

7 vehicle capable of carrying humans from Martian 

8 orbit to the surface of Mars and back. 

9 (b) OFFICE OF EXPLORATION.—

10 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall 

11 establish an Office of Exploration, which shall be 

12 headed by an Associate Administrator reporting di13 rectly to the Administrator. 

14 (2) FUNCTIONS.—The Office of Exploration 

15 shall, in coordination with the Office of Space 

16 Flight, the Office of Space Science, and all other rel17 evant Offices, be responsible for planning, budg18 eting, and managing activities undertaken by the 

19 National Aeronautics and Space Administration to 

20 accomplish the goals stated in subsection (a). 

21 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—

22 (1) COMPETITIONS.—The Administrator shall 

23 establish a process for conducting competitions for 

24 innovative, cost-efficient mission concepts to accom25 plish each of the goals stated in subsection (a). The 
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1 competitions shall be open to entities or consortia 

2 from industry, academia, nongovernmental research 

3 organizations, National Aeronautics and Space Ad4 ministration Centers, and other governmental orga5 nizations. Mission concepts may include the provi6 sion of a commercial item or service sufficient to ac7 complish all or part of the relevant goal. Mission 

8 concepts that include international participation and 

9 cost-sharing shall be encouraged. The Administrator 

10 shall solicit proposals for the competition with re11 spect to the goal stated in subsection (a)(1) not later 

12 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

13 this Act, and shall determine when it is appropriate 

14 to conduct competitions with respect to each of the 

15 other goals stated in subsection (a). 

16 (2) INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF PROPOSALS.—

17 The Administrator shall establish an independent 

18 panel to conduct a merit-based competitive review of 

19 the proposals submitted under each competition con20 ducted under this subsection, and to submit a rank21 ordered evaluation of the proposals to the Adminis22 trator. 

23 (3) CONTENTS.—Each proposal submitted as 

24 part of a competition under this subsection shall 
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1 contain a proposed implementation plan that in2 cludes—

3 (A) the mission concept; 

4 (B) a cost estimate; 

5 (C) a funding profile; 

6 (D) a schedule; and 

7 (E) a technological risk reduction roadmap 

8 for any required technologies not currently 

9 available for use in the proposed mission con10 cept. 

11 (4) REVIEW OF COST ESTIMATE AND FUNDING

12 PROFILE.—The Administrator shall provide for the 

13 completion of an independent external review of the 

14 cost estimate and funding profile of the competi15 tively selected proposal for each of the competitions 

16 conducted under this subsection within 60 days after 

17 the completion of the competitive selection process. 

18 (5) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator 

19 shall provide to the Committee on Science of the 

20 House of Representatives and to the Committee on 

21 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen22 ate the implementation plan of the competitively se23 lected proposal, along with the results of the inde24 pendent external review under paragraph (4), for 

25 each competition conducted under this subsection, 
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1 within 90 days after the completion of the competi2 tive selection process. 

3 (d) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN UPDATES AND RE4 VIEWS.—

5 (1) UPDATES.—The implementation plans of 

6 the competitively selected proposals under subsection 

7 (c) shall be updated every year by the manager of 

8 the project, as designated by the original implemen9 tation plan. 

10 (2) UPDATED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN RE11 VIEW.—The Administrator shall have an inde12 pendent external review panel review each of the up13 dated implementation plans required by paragraph 

14 (1), and shall provide the results of those reviews to 

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

17 Science, and Transportation of the Senate within 30 

18 days after each review is completed. 

19 (3) REVIEW ELEMENTS.—Reviews under para20 graph (2) shall address at least the following: 

21 (A) The reasonableness of the assumed 

22 schedule for the cost estimate and funding pro23 file. 
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1 (B) The degree to which the implementa2 tion plan is consistent with the competitively se3 lected mission concept. 

4 (C) The degree to which the relevant areas 

5 of technical and programmatic risk are ad6 dressed and risk mitigation plans are in place. 

7 (D) The extent to which the implementa8 tion plan utilizes commercially available goods 

9 and services when available and appropriate to 

10 achieve the goal. 

11 (E) The extent to which the plan makes 

12 use of existing capabilities developed in previous 

13 phases of the human space flight initiative or in 

14 other National Aeronautics and Space Adminis15 tration programs when available and appro16 priate in lieu of undertaking new development 

17 programs. 

18 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

19 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator for 

20 carrying out this Act—

21 (1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; and 

22 (2) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.

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