I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3245

To promote the development of the commercial space transportation industry, 

to authorize appropriations for the Office of the Associate Administrator 

for Commercial Space Transportation, to authorize appropriations for 

the Office of Space Commerce, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 2, 2003

Mr. ROHRABACHER (for himself, Mr. GORDON, and Mr. HALL) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science 

A BILL

To promote the development of the commercial space transportation industry, to authorize appropriations for the 

Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial 

Space Transportation, to authorize appropriations for the 

Office of Space Commerce, 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Space Act 

5 of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds that—
2

•HR 3245 IH 

1 (1) a prolonged and severe downturn in the 

2 market for commercial space launches has resulted 

3 in—

4 (A) a significant reduction in the United 

5 States global market share in orbital space 

6 launches; 

7 (B) a severe decrease in the number of 

8 Government-licensed orbital launches; and 

9 (C) a commercial space transportation in10 dustry dependent upon Government business 

11 opportunities; 

12 (2) the continuous reduction of cost and im13 provement in safety and reliability of commercial 

14 space transportation capabilities is a necessary in15 gredient to achieving most United States space 

16 goals; 

17 (3) the opening of outer space to the American 

18 people and their economic, scientific, and cultural 

19 enterprises is a priority goal which should guide 

20 Federal space investments, policy development, and 

21 regulatory action; 

22 (4) despite a weak United States launch indus23 try, recent industrial and technical developments in24 dicate that commercial suborbital human spaceflight 

25 vehicles are under active development in both the 
3

•HR 3245 IH 

1 United States and other nations, and greater private 

2 investment in these development efforts will promote 

3 greater innovation and competitiveness for the 

4 United States commercial space transportation in5 dustry as a whole; 

6 (5) space transportation is not without risks; 

7 (6) a critical area of responsibility for the Of8 fice of the Associate Administrator for Commercial 

9 Space Transportation is to ensure that the Federal 

10 regulation of this new commercial suborbital human 

11 spaceflight industry should focus on protecting the 

12 safety of the general, uninvolved public, while allow13 ing involved persons to assume risks which are in14 herent to human spaceflight activities; 

15 (7) enactment of a 3-year extension of the ex16 cess third party claims payment provision of chapter 

17 701 of title 49, United States Code (Commercial 

18 Space Launch Activities) is necessary to provide an 

19 appropriate period to evaluate recommended changes 

20 to the Government’s commercial space launch in21 demnification regime; 

22 (8) the Secretary of Transportation should es23 tablish regulatory guidelines that foster an efficient 

24 and cost-effective process for ensuring safe commer-
4

•HR 3245 IH 

1 cial space launch operations at the Nation’s launch 

2 ranges and bases; and 

3 (9) the public interest is served by creating a 

4 clear legal and regulatory regime for commercial 

5 space transportation, including an unambiguous de6 lineation of regulatory roles and responsibilities. 

7 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS. 

8 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR OF9 FICE OF COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION.—Sec10 tion 70119 of title 49, United States Code, is amended 

11 by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(1) $11,523,000 for fiscal year 2004; and 

14 ‘‘(2) $11,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.’’. 

15 (b) FINDINGS.—Section 70101(a) of title 49, United 

16 States Code, is amended—

17 (1) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘human 

18 spaceflight,’’ after ‘‘research,’’; and 

19 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘satellite’’ and 

20 inserting ‘‘space’’, and by striking ‘‘services now 

21 available from’’ and inserting ‘‘capabilities of’’. 

22 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 70102 of title 49, United 

23 States Code, is amended—

24 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 

25 (16) as paragraphs (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), 
5

•HR 3245 IH 

1 (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), (16), (19), and (20), re2 spectively; 

3 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol4 lowing new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(2) ‘crew’ means an individual or individuals 

6 carried within a launch or reentry vehicle who per7 forms a function necessary for the protection of pub8 lic safety. ’’; 

9 (3) in paragraph (9), as so redesignated by 

10 paragraph (1) of this subsection—

11 (A) by inserting ‘‘an individual or’’ after 

12 ‘‘means’’; 

13 (B) by inserting ‘‘or return from’’ after ‘‘to 

14 place in’’; and 

15 (C) by striking ‘‘that object’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘that individual or object’’; 

17 (4) by inserting after paragraph (14), as so re18 designated by paragraph (1) of this subsection, the 

19 following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(15) ‘spaceflight participant’ means an indi21 vidual who is not crew carried within a launch or re22 entry vehicle during a launch or reentry.’’; 

23 (5) by inserting after paragraph (16), as so re24 designated by paragraph (1) of this subsection, the 

25 following new paragraphs: 
6

•HR 3245 IH 

1 ‘‘(17) ‘suborbital rocket’ means a rocket-pro2 pelled vehicle intended for flight on a suborbital tra3 jectory whose thrust is greater than its lift for the 

4 majority of the powered portion of its flight. 

5 ‘‘(18) ‘suborbital trajectory’ means the inten6 tional flight path of a launch vehicle, reentry vehicle, 

7 or any portion thereof, whose vacuum instantaneous 

8 impact point does not leave the surface of the 

9 Earth.’’; and 

10 (6) in paragraph (19), as so redesignated by 

11 paragraph (1) of this subsection—

12 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara13 graph (C); 

14 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

15 subparagraph (D) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

17 subparagraph: 

18 ‘‘(E) crew or spaceflight participants.’’. 

19 (d) COMMERCIAL HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT.—(1) Sec20 tion 70104 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—

21 (A) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub22 section (d); and 

23 (B) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol24 lowing new subsection: 
7

•HR 3245 IH 

1 ‘‘(c) COMPLIANCE WITH SPACEFLIGHT PARTICIPANT

2 REQUIREMENTS.—The holder of a license under this 

3 chapter may launch or reenter a spaceflight participant 

4 only if—

5 ‘‘(1) the spaceflight participant has received 

6 training and met medical or other standards speci7 fied in the license; 

8 ‘‘(2) the spaceflight participant is informed of 

9 the safety record of the launch or reentry vehicle 

10 type; and 

11 ‘‘(3) the launch or reentry vehicle is marked in 

12 a manner specified by the Secretary of Transpor13 tation which identifies it as a launch or reentry vehi14 cle rather than an aircraft.’’. 

15 (2) Section 70112(b)(1) of title 49, United States 

16 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘property damage or loss 

17 it sustains, or for personal injury to, death of, or property 

18 damage or loss sustained by its own employees’’ and in19 serting ‘‘personal injury, death, property damage, or loss 

20 it sustains, and for personal injury to, death of, or prop21 erty damage or loss sustained by its own employees,’’. 

22 SEC. 4. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK. 

23 The Secretary of Transportation shall take appro24 priate efforts, including realignment of personnel and re25 sources, to create a streamlined, cost-effective, and ena-
8

•HR 3245 IH 

1 bling regulatory framework for the United States commer2 cial human spaceflight industry. The Secretary of Trans3 portation shall clearly distinguish the Department’s regu4 lation of air commerce from its regulation of commercial 

5 human spaceflight, and focus the Department’s regulation 

6 of commercial human spaceflight activities on protecting 

7 the safety of the general public, while allowing spaceflight 

8 participants who have been trained and meet license-spe9 cific standards to assume an informed level of risk. Not 

10 later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this 

11 Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall transmit to the 

12 Congress a report on the progress made in implementing 

13 this section. 

14 SEC. 5. COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION INDEM15 NIFICATION EXTENSION. 

16 Section 70113(f) of title 49, United States Code, is 

17 amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2004’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘December 31, 2007’’. 

19 SEC. 6. LIABILITY REGIME FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE 

20 TRANSPORTATION. 

21 (a) APPLICATIONS.—Not later than 60 days after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans23 portation shall enter into an appropriate arrangement 

24 with the National Academy of Public Administration to 

25 conduct a study on the liability risk-sharing regime in the 
9

•HR 3245 IH 

1 United States for commercial space transportation. The 

2 study shall recommend modifications to the liability re3 gime and characterization of actions required to imple4 ment those modifications. The study shall analyze the ade5 quacy, propriety, and effectiveness of, and the need for, 

6 the current liability risk-sharing regime. The study shall 

7 specifically consider—

8 (1) other countries’ regimes; 

9 (2) the use of the designation of ‘‘ultra haz10 ardous’’ for space transportation activities; 

11 (3) relevant international treaties; 

12 (4) impacts of reusable launch vehicles and 

13 spaceports; and 

14 (5) the feasibility of airline-like liability re15 gimes. 

16 The study shall use a clearly described, analytical method17 ology to specify the factors used in evaluating the current 

18 regime and alternative approaches to the current regime. 

19 Estimates of impacts shall be quantified where possible. 

20 (b) COMPLETION DATE.—The results of the study 

21 described in subsection (a) shall be transmitted to the 

22 Congress not later than 18 months after the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act. 
10

•HR 3245 IH 

1 SEC. 7. OFFICE OF SPACE COMMERCE. 

2 (a) REDESIGNATION.—The Office of Space Commer3 cialization established under section 8 of the Technology 

4 Administration Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 1511e) is redesig5 nated as the Office of Space Commerce. 

6 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

7 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com8 merce for the Office of Space Commerce—

9 (1) $1,800,000 for fiscal year 2004; and 

10 (2) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2005. 

11 SEC. 8. DELEGATION OF LICENSING AUTHORITY. 

12 (a) DELEGATION.—The Secretary of Commerce shall 

13 delegate the authority provided to the Secretary under 

14 title II of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 

15 (15 U.S.C. 5621 et seq.) to the Director of the Office of 

16 Space Commerce. 

17 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 8(c) of the Technology 

18 Administration Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 1511e(c)) is 

19 amended—

20 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

21 (6); 

22 (2) by striking the period at the end of para23 graph (7) and inserting a semicolon; and 

24 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(8) licensing private sector parties to operate 

26 private remote sensing space systems; and 
11

•HR 3245 IH 

1 ‘‘(9) serving as the Executive Secretary for the 

2 Interagency Global Positioning System Executive 

3 Board.’’.

Æ