IIA

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1601

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 10, 1995

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

and Transportation

A BILL

To authorize appropriations to the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration to develop, assemble, and operate

the International Space Station.

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 ‘‘International Space

3 Station Authorization Act of 1995’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress finds that—

6 (1) the development, assembly, and operation of

7 the International Space Station is in the national in8 terest of the United States;

9 (2) the National Aeronautics and Space Admin10 istration has restructured and redesigned the Inter11 national Space Station, consolidated contract re12 sponsibility, and achieved program management,

13 control, and stability;

14 (3) the significant involvement by private ven15 tures in marketing and using, competitively servic16 ing, and commercially augmenting the operational

17 capabilities of the International Space Station dur18 ing its assembly and operational phases will lower

19 costs and increase benefits to the international part20 ners;

21 (4) further rescoping or redesigns of the Inter22 national Space Station will lead to costly delays, in23 crease costs to its international partners, discourage

24 commercial involvement, and weaken the inter25 national space partnership necessary for future

26 space projects;
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1 (5) total program costs for development, assem2 bly, and initial operations have been identified and

3 capped to ensure financial discipline and maintain

4 program schedule milestones;

5 (6) in order to contain costs, mission planning

6 and engineering functions of the National Space

7 Transportation System (Space Shuttle) program

8 should be coordinated with the Space Station Pro9 gram Office;

10 (7) complete program authorizations for large

11 development programs promote program stability,

12 reduce the potential for cost growth, and provide

13 necessary assurance to international partners and

14 commercial participants; and

15 (8) the International Space Station represents

16 an important component of an adequately funded

17 civil space program which balances human space

18 flight with science, aeronautics, and technology.

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

20 For the purposes of this Act—

21 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad22 ministrator of the National Aeronautics and Space

23 Administration; and
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1 (2) the term ‘‘cost threat’’ means a potential

2 change to the program baseline documented as a po3 tential cost by the Space Station Program Office.

4 SEC. 4. SPACE STATION COMPLETE PROGRAM AUTHORIZA5 TION.

6 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Except

7 as provided in subsection (b), there are authorized to be

8 appropriated to the National Aeronautics and Space Ad9 ministration for the period encompassing fiscal year 1996

10 and all subsequent fiscal years not to exceed

11 $13,141,000,000, to remain available until expended, for

12 complete development and assembly of, and to provide for

13 initial operations, through fiscal year 2002, of, the Inter14 national Space Station. Not more than $2,121,000,000

15 may be appropriated for any one fiscal year.

16 (b) CERTIFICATION AND REPORT.—None of the

17 funds authorized under subsection (a) may be appro18 priated for any fiscal year unless, within 60 days after

19 the submission of the President’s budget request for that

20 fiscal year, the Administrator—

21 (1) certifies to the Congress that—

22 (A) the program reserves available for such

23 fiscal year exceed the total of all cost threats

24 known at the time of certification;
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1 (B) the Administrator does not foresee

2 delays in the International Space Station’s de3 velopment or assembly, including any delays re4 lating to agreements between the United States

5 and its international partners; and

6 (C) the International Space Station can be

7 fully developed and assembled without requiring

8 further authorization of appropriations beyond

9 amounts authorized under subsection (a); or

10 (2) submits to the Congress a report which de11 scribes—

12 (A) the circumstances which prevent a cer13 tification under paragraph (1);

14 (B) remedial actions undertaken or to be

15 undertaken with respect to such circumstances;

16 (C) the effects of such circumstances on

17 the development and assembly of the Inter18 national Space Station; and

19 (D) the justification for proceeding with

20 the program, if appropriate.

21 If the Administrator submits a report under paragraph

22 (2), such report shall include any comments relating there23 to submitted to the Administrator by any involved party.

24 (c) NEUTRAL BUOYANCY LABORATORY.—The Ad25 ministrator is authorized to exercise an option to pur-
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1 chase, for not more than $35,000,000, the Clear Lake De2 velopment Facility, containing the Sonny Carter Training

3 Facility and the approximately 13.7 acre parcel of land

4 on which it is located, using funds authorized by this Act.

5 SEC. 5. COORDINATION WITH SPACE SHUTTLE.

6 The Administrator shall—

7 (1) coordinate the engineering functions of the

8 Space Shuttle program with the Space Station Pro9 gram Office to minimize overlapping activities; and

10 (2) in the interest of safety and the successful

11 integration of human spacecraft development with

12 human spaceflight operations, maintain at one lead

13 center the complementary capabilities of human

14 spacecraft engineering and astronaut training.

15 SEC. 6. COMMERCIALIZATION OF SPACE STATION.

16 (a) POLICY.—The Congress declares that a priority

17 goal of constructing the International Space Station is the

18 economic development of Earth orbital space. The Con19 gress further declares that the use of free market prin20 ciples in operating, allocating the use of, and adding capa21 bilities to the Space Station, and the resulting fullest pos22 sible engagement of commercial providers and participa23 tion of commercial users, will reduce Space Station oper24 ational costs for all partners and the Federal Govern-
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1 ment’s share of the United States burden to fund oper2 ations.

3 (b) REPORT.—The Administrator shall deliver to the

4 Congress, within 60 days after the submission of the

5 President’s budget request for fiscal year 1997, a market

6 study that examines the role of commercial ventures which

7 could supply, use, service, or augment the International

8 Space Station, the specific policies and initiatives the Ad9 ministrator is advancing to encourage these commercial

10 opportunities, the cost savings to be realized by the inter11 national partnership from applying commercial ap12 proaches to cost-shared operations, and the cost reim13 bursements to the United States Federal Government

14 from commercial users of the Space Station.

15 SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

16 It is the sense of Congress that the ‘‘cost incentive

17 fee’’ single prime contract negotiated by the National Aer18 onautics and Space Administration for the International

19 Space Station, and the consolidation of programmatic and

20 financial accountability into a single Space Station Pro21 gram Office, are two examples of reforms for the

22 reinvention of all National Aeronautics and Space Admin23 istration programs that should be applied as widely and

24 as quickly as possible throughout the Nation’s civil space

25 program.
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1 SEC. 8. SPACE STATION ACCOUNTING REPORT.

2 Within one year after the date of enactment of this

3 Act, and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall

4 transmit to the Congress a report with a complete annual

5 accounting of all costs of the space station, including cash

6 and other payments to Russia.

Passed the House of Representatives September 28,

1995.

Attest: ROBIN H. CARLE,

Clerk.