Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 17, 2013 / Notices 57215 

1This mission is also referred to as OrbD–1. See 

Letter from Mark A. Wright, Manager, Safety 

Inspection Division AST, to Natalie Imfeld, 

Contracts Manager, Advanced Programs Group 

Orbital Sciences Corporation (August 16, 2013) (on 

file with FAA) (referring to Antares launch of the 

Cygnus payload as ORB–D1 Mission). 

2Space Station—Here we Come! NASA Press 

Release: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/

foreducators/station-here-we-come.html (last 

visited August 16, 2013). 

3Nonreimbursable Space Act Agreement Between 

NanoRacks, LLC and NASA for Operation of the 

NanoRacks System Aboard the International Space 

Station National Laboratory, (Sept. 4 and 9 2009) 

(NanoRacks Agreement), 387938main—SAA— 

SOMD—6355—NanoRacks—ISS—National— 

Lab.pdf. 

4OrbD–1 refers to the COTS Demo mission 

currently scheduled to launch in September on the 

Antares launch vehicle from Wallops. See Letter 

from Mark A. Wright, Manager, Safety Inspection 

Division AST, to Natalie Imfeld, Contracts Manager, 

Advanced Programs Group Orbital Sciences 

Corporation (August 16, 2013) (on file with author) 

(referring to Antares launch of the Cygnus payload 

as ORB–D1 Mission). 

Issued in Washington, DC. on September 4, 

2013. 

Joe Hebert, 

Manager, Financial Analysis and Passenger 

Facility Charge Branch. 

[FR Doc. 2013–22557 Filed 9–16–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Waiver of Requirement To Enter Into a 

Reciprocal Waiver of Claims 

Agreement With All Customers for 

Orbital Sciences Corporation 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of waiver. 

SUMMARY: This notice concerns a 

petition for waiver submitted to the 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 

by Orbital Sciences Corporation 

(Orbital) to waive in part the 

requirement that a launch operator enter 

into a reciprocal waiver of claims with 

each customer. The FAA grants the 

petition. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

technical questions concerning this 

waiver, contact Charles P. Brinkman, 

Licensing Program Lead, Commercial 

Space Transportation—Licensing and 

Evaluation Division, 800 Independence 

Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591; 

telephone: (202) 267–7715; email: 

Phil.Brinkman@faa.gov. For legal 

questions concerning this waiver, 

contact Sabrina Jawed, AttorneyAdviser, Space Law Branch, AGC–250, 

Office of the Chief Counsel, Regulations 

Division, Federal Aviation 

Administration, 800 Independence 

Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591; 

telephone (202) 267–8839; email: 

Sabrina.Jawed@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On August 8, 2013, Orbital submitted 

a petition to the FAA’s Office of 

Commercial Space Transportation (AST) 

requesting a waiver under its launch 

license for flight of an Antares launch 

vehicle carrying Orbital’s Cygnus 

module.1 Orbital requested a partial 

waiver of 14 CFR 440.17, which requires 

a licensee to enter into a reciprocal 

waiver of claims (a ‘‘cross-waiver’’) with 

each of its customers. 

The FAA licenses the launch of a 

launch vehicle and reentry of a reentry 

vehicle under authority granted to the 

Secretary of Transportation by the 

Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, 

as amended and re-codified by 51 U.S.C. 

Subtitle V, chapter 509 (Chapter 509), 

and delegated to the FAA Administrator 

and the Associate Administrator for 

Commercial Space Transportation, who 

exercises licensing authority under 

Chapter 509. 

The petition for waiver applies to 

Orbital’s September 2013 launch of an 

Antares launch vehicle and Orbital’s 

Cygnus pressurized cargo module to be 

used in the delivery of cargo to the 

International Space Station (ISS). The 

Cygnus cargo module will carry cargo 

for NASA to resupply the ISS. In 

addition to the ISS supplies, the Antares 

may also carry other payloads whose 

transport NASA has arranged as part of 

the Johnson Space Center cargo. These 

consist of a NanoRacks, LLC, and 

NanoRacks locker insert and student 

experiments created under NASA’s 

Student Spaceflight Experiments 

Program (SSEP). NASA describes SSEP 

as a national science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics education 

initiative.2 According to its Space Act 

Agreement with NASA,3 NanoRacks 

arranges to carry the student 

experiments on a locker insert to put 

into an experimental locker on board 

the ISS. The Space Act Agreement states 

that NASA will provide on-orbit 

resources and limited launch 

opportunities to NanoRacks for the 

launch of its insert and the experiments 

the insert carries. Orbital provided the 

FAA, along with its petition for waiver, 

a letter signed by Christopher Cummins, 

Chief Operating Officer of NanoRacks, 

stating that NanoRacks will not have 

any personnel at the launch site for the 

OrbD–1 4 launch, which is the launch 

that is the subject of this waiver. 

NanoRacks and each student who 

places a payload on board the 

NanoRacks insert qualify as customers 

under the FAA’s definitions. Section 

440.3 defines a customer, in relevant 

part, as any person with rights in the 

payload or any part of the payload, or 

any person who has placed property on 

board the payload for launch, reentry, or 

payload services. A person is an 

individual or an entity organized or 

existing under the laws of a State or 

country. 51 U.S.C. 50901(12), 14 CFR 

401.5. The subjects of this waiver are 

persons because the students are 

individuals and NanoRacks is an entity, 

a limited liability corporation. 

Accordingly, because NanoRacks and 

the students are persons who have 

rights in their respective payloads, the 

locker insert and the experiments, due 

to their ownership of those objects, and 

because they have placed property on 

board, they are customers. Section 

440.17 requires their signatures as 

customers. 

In this instance, however, NanoRacks 

and the students are also subject to a 

NASA reciprocal waivers of claims, a 

cross-waiver, which is governed by 

NASA’s regulations at 14 CFR part 1266. 

Article 8 of the Space Act Agreement 

between NASA and NanoRacks governs 

liability and risk of loss and establishes 

a cross-waiver of liability. 

Other than the NanoRacks and SSEP 

customers, all other customers as 

defined by 14 CFR 440.3 will execute 

the cross-waivers required by 14 CFR 

440.17. The cross-waivers among 

Orbital and all customers, other than 

NanoRacks and SSEP customers, are 

amended to provide that signing 

customers waive claims against any 

other customer as defined by 14 CFR 

440.3. The petition for partial waiver of 

the requirement that the licensee 

implement a cross-waiver with each 

customer applies to NanoRacks and the 

SSEP customers as customers of the 

September 2013 launch of the Antares 

launch vehicle carrying the Cygnus 

module. 

Waiver Criteria 

Chapter 509 allows the FAA to waive 

a license requirement if the waiver (1) 

will not jeopardize public health and 

safety, safety of property; (2) will not 

jeopardize national security and foreign 

policy interests of the United States; and 

(3) will be in the public interest. 51 

U.S.C. 50905(b)(3) (2013); 14 CFR 

404.5(b) (2013). 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
57216 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 180 / Tuesday, September 17, 2013 / Notices 

5 Indemnification by the U.S. Government is 

conditioned upon the passage of legislation. 51 

U.S.C. 50915; 14 CFR 440.17(d). 

6Waiver of Requirement to Enter Into a 

Reciprocal Waiver of Claims Agreement With All 

Customers, Notice of Waiver, 77 FR 63221 (Oct. 16, 

2012). 

1 General Motors, LLC is a manufacturer of motor 

vehicles and is registered under the laws of the state 

of Michigan. 

Waiver of FAA Requirement for Each 

Customer To Sign a Reciprocal Waiver 

of Claims 

The FAA waives 14 CFR 440.17, 

which requires a licensee to enter into 

a reciprocal waiver of claims with each 

of its customers with respect to 

NanoRacks and the SSEP participants 

for the September 2013 Antares launch. 

In 1988, as part of a comprehensive 

financial responsibility and risk sharing 

regime that protects launch participants 

and the U.S. Government from the risks 

of catastrophic loss and litigation, 

Congress required that all launch 

participants agree to waive claims 

against each other for their own 

property damage or loss, and to cover 

losses experienced by their own 

employees. 51 U.S.C. 50915(b). This 

part of the regime was intended to 

relieve launch participants of the 

burden of obtaining property insurance 

by having each party be responsible for 

the loss of its own property and to limit 

the universe of claims that might arise 

as a result of a launch. H. Rep. 100–639, 

at 11–12 (1988); S. Rep. 100–593, at 14, 

(1988); Financial Responsibility 

Requirements for Licensed Launch 

Activities, Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking, 61 FR 38992, 39011 (Jul. 

25, 1996). The FAA’s implementing 

regulations may be found at 14 CFR part 

440. 

In its request for a waiver, Orbital 

submits that the NASA Space Act 

Agreement reciprocal waivers of claims 

imposed on NanoRacks and the SSEP 

participants are equivalent to the 

requirements imposed on each customer 

under the FAA’s requirements of 14 

CFR part 440. A comparison of the two 

regimes shows that in this particular 

situation the two sets of cross-waivers 

are sufficiently similar that the statutory 

goals of 51 U.S.C. 50914(b) will be met 

by the FAA agreeing to accept the 

NASA cross-waivers in this instance. 

The FAA cross-waivers require the 

launch participants, including the U.S. 

Government and each customer, and 

their respective contractors and 

subcontractors, to waive and release 

claims against all the other parties to the 

waiver and agree to assume financial 

responsibility for property damage 

sustained by that party and for bodily 

injury or property damage sustained by 

the party’s own employees, and to hold 

harmless and indemnify each other from 

bodily injury or property damage 

sustained by their respective employees 

resulting from the licensed activity, 

regardless of fault. 14 CFR 440.17(b) and 

(c). Each party 5 to the cross-waiver 

must indemnify the other parties from 

claims by the indemnifying party’s 

contractors and subcontractors if the 

indemnifying party fails to properly 

extend the requirements of the crosswaivers to its contractors and 

subcontractors. 14 CFR 440.17(d). A 

comparison of each element shows that, 

although there are some differences, 

because the NASA cross-waiver signed 

by NanoRacks is consistent with 

Congressional intent and the FAA’s 

regulations, because relevant employees 

will not be present at the launch site, 

and because the Orbital cross-waiver 

submitted to the FAA has been 

amended to protect non-signing 

customers, NanoRacks and the SSEP 

participants need not sign a crosswaiver under 14 CFR part 440. 

For the reasons stated in the waiver 

the FAA published for SpaceX on 

October 16, 2012,6 and for the reasons 

stated above, the FAA finds that this 

waiver implicates no safety, national 

security or foreign policy issues. The 

waiver is consistent with the public 

interest goals of Chapter 509. Under 51 

U.S.C. 50914, Congress determined that 

it was necessary to reduce the costs 

associated with insurance and litigation 

by requiring launch participants, 

including customers, to waive claims 

against each other. Because the 

NanoRacks Agreement under 14 CFR 

part 1266 accomplishes these goals by 

the same or similar means, the FAA 

finds this request in the public interest, 

and grants the waiver with respect to 

NanoRacks and the SSEP participants in 

reliance on the representations Orbital 

made in its petition. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on September 

10, 2013. 

Kenneth Wong, 

Commercial Space Transportation, Licensing 

and Evaluation Division Manager. 

[FR Doc. 2013–22566 Filed 9–16–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2012–0165; Notice 1] 

General Motors, LLC, Receipt of 

Petition for Decision of 

Inconsequential Noncompliance 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Receipt of petition. 

SUMMARY: General Motors, LLC (GM) 1

has determined that certain model year 

(MY) 2011 through 2013 Buick Regal 

and MY 2013 Chevrolet Malibu 

passenger cars may not fully comply 

with the telltale bulb outage 

requirement found in paragraph S5.5.6 

of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety 

Standard (FMVSS) No 108, Lamps, 

Reflective Devices, and Associated 

Equipment. GM has filed an appropriate 

report dated October 3, 2012, pursuant 

to 49 CFR Part 573, Defect and 

Noncompliance Responsibility and 

Reports. 

DATES: October 17, 2013. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written data, views, 

and arguments on this petition. 

Comments must refer to the docket and 

notice number cited at the beginning of 

this notice and be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

• Mail: Send by mail addressed to: 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 

Docket Operations, M–30, West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

Washington, DC 20590. 

• Hand Deliver: Deliver comments by 

hand to: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, M– 

30, West Building Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

Washington, DC 20590. The Docket 

Section is open on weekdays from 10 

a.m. to 5 p.m. except Federal Holidays. 

• Electronically: Submit comments 

electronically by: logging onto the 

Federal Docket Management System 

(FDMS) Web site at http://

www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Comments may also be faxed to (202) 

493–2251. 

Comments must be written in the 

English language, and be no greater than 

15 pages in length, although there is no 

limit to the length of necessary 

attachments to the comments. If 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES