II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1694 

To require any Federal agency that issues licenses to conduct activities 

in outer space to include in the requirements for such licenses an agreement relating to the preservation and protection of the Apollo 11 landing 

site, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. CRUZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To require any Federal agency that issues licenses to conduct 

activities in outer space to include in the requirements 

for such licenses an agreement relating to the preservation and protection of the Apollo 11 landing site, 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 ‘‘One Small Step to 

5 Protect Human Heritage in Space Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

4 (1) On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft 

5 launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center 

6 carrying Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. ‘‘Buzz’’ 

7 Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins. 

8 (2) July 20, 2019, will mark the 50th anniver9 sary of the date on which the Apollo 11 spacecraft 

10 landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong and Buzz 

11 Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on a ce12 lestial body off the Earth. 

13 (3) The landing of the Apollo 11 spacecraft and 

14 humanity’s first off-world footprints are achieve15 ments unparalleled in history, a direct product of the 

16 work and perseverance of the more than 400,000 in17 dividuals who contributed to the development of the 

18 Apollo missions on the shoulders of centuries of 

19 science and engineering pioneers from all corners of 

20 the world. 

21 (4) Among the thousands of individuals who 

22 have contributed to the achievements of the National 

23 Aeronautics and Space Administration (in this sec24 tion referred to as ‘‘NASA’’) are African-American 

25 women such as Katherine Johnson, Dorothy 

26 Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Dr. Christine Darden, 


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1 who made critical contributions to NASA space pro2 grams. Katherine Johnson worked at NASA for 35 

3 years and calculated the trajectory of the Apollo 11 

4 landing and the trajectories for the spaceflights of 

5 astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn. Katherine 

6 Johnson, together with many other individuals the 

7 work of whom often went unacknowledged, helped 

8 broaden the scope of space travel and charted new 

9 frontiers for humanity’s exploration of space. 

10 (5) The landing of the Apollo 11 spacecraft was 

11 made on behalf of all humankind, and Neil Arm12 strong and Buzz Aldrin were accompanied by mes13 sages of peace from the leaders of more than 70 

14 countries. 

15 (6) The lunar landing sites of the Apollo 11 

16 spacecraft, the robotic spacecraft that preceded the 

17 Apollo 11 mission, and the crewed and robotic 

18 spacecraft that followed, are of outstanding uni19 versal value to humanity. 

20 (7) Such landing sites— 

21 (A) are the first archaeological sites with 

22 human activity that are not on Earth; 

23 (B) provide evidence of the first achieve24 ments of humankind in the realm of space trav25 el and exploration; and 


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1 (C) contain artifacts and other evidence of 

2 human exploration activities that remain a po3 tential source of cultural, historical, archae4 ological, anthropological, scientific, and engi5 neering knowledge. 

6 (8) As commercial enterprises and more coun7 tries acquire the ability to land on the Moon, it is 

8 necessary to ensure the recognition and protection of 

9 the Apollo 11 landing site and other historic landing 

10 sites together with all the human effort and innova11 tion the sites represent. 

12 (9) On July 20, 2011, NASA published the vol13 untary guidance entitled ‘‘NASA’s Recommendations 

14 to Space-Faring Entities: How to Protect and Pre15 serve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Gov16 ernment Lunar Artifacts’’. 

17 (10) In March 2018, the Office of Science and 

18 Technology Policy published a report entitled ‘‘Pro19 tecting & Preserving Apollo Program Lunar Landing 

20 Sites & Artifacts’’. 

21 (11) The Apollo 11 landing site and other simi22 lar historic landing sites in outer space merit legal 

23 protection from inadvertent or intentional inter24 ference with such sites or the environment sur25 rounding such sites in order to prevent irremediable 


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1 loss of archaeological, anthropological, historical, sci2 entific, and engineering significance and value. 

3 (12) Space-faring entities based outside the 

4 United States have the capacity to land on the 

5 Moon. 

6 (13) The licensing requirements under this Act 

7 are applicable only to United States-based activities 

8 in outer space and therefore have limited efficacy for 

9 protecting against intentional or inadvertent disturb10 ances of the Apollo 11 landing site and other similar 

11 historic sites from space-faring entities based outside 

12 the United States. 

13 (14) A binding international agreement to pro14 tect the Apollo 11 landing site and other similar his15 toric sites by requiring adherence to the rec16 ommendations described in section 3(b) would be 

17 sufficient to protect against intentional or inad18 vertent disturbances of the Apollo 11 landing site 

19 and other similar historic sites. 

20 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con21 gress that the President should initiate a diplomatic initia22 tive to negotiate an international agreement described in 

23 subsection (a)(14). 


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1 SEC. 3. LICENSING REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING PRESER2 VATION OF HISTORIC LUNAR LANDING SITES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 90 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, any Federal 

5 agency that issues a license to conduct an activity in outer 

6 space shall require each applicant for such a license— 

7 (1) to agree to abide by the recommendations 

8 described in subsection (b); or 

9 (2) in the case of an activity that requires a li10 cense from more than one Federal agency, to certify 

11 (as described in paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable, 

12 of section 1746 of title 28, United States Code) that 

13 the applicant has submitted an application for a li14 cense for such activity to another Federal agency 

15 that satisfies paragraph (1). 

16 (b) RECOMMENDATIONS DESCRIBED.—The rec17 ommendations described in this subsection are— 

18 (1) ‘‘NASA’s Recommendations to Space19 Faring Entities: How to Protect and Preserve the 

20 Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Government 

21 Lunar Artifacts’’ issued by the National Aeronautics 

22 and Space Administration on July 20, 2011; 

23 (2) the updates to ‘‘NASA’s Recommendations 

24 to Space-Faring Entities: How to Protect and Pre25 serve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Gov26 ernment Lunar Artifacts’’ issued by the National 


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1 Aeronautics and Space Administration on October 

2 28, 2011; and 

3 (3) any successor heritage preservation rec4 ommendations, guidelines, or principles relating to 

5 the protection and preservation of Government lunar 

6 artifacts issued by the National Aeronautics and 

7 Space Administration. 

8 (c) EXEMPTIONS.—A Federal agency issuing a li9 cense described in subsection (a) may, in consultation with 

10 the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 

11 Administration, exempt specific activities of an applicant 

12 from the historic preservation agreement or certification 

13 under subsection (a) if such bona fide activities are deter14 mined to have legitimate and significant historical, archeo15 logical, anthropological, scientific, or engineering value. 

16 (d) AUTHORITY TO ASSESS PENALTY FEES.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Federal agency issuing a 

18 license described in subsection (a) may assess a pen19 alty fee on the holder of such license for conduct 

20 that violates one or more of terms of the license re21 lating to the agreement under subsection (a)(1). 

22 (2) AMOUNT.—The penalty fee amount as23 sessed under paragraph (1) shall be— 

24 (A) commensurate with the nature and ex25 tent of the violation; and 


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1 (B) sufficient to deter future violations. 

2 (e) ACTIVITY DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

3 ‘‘activity’’ means an action or endeavor in outer space 

4 that— 

5 (1) is intended to be lunar in nature, including 

6 lunar orbit, landing, and impact; or 

7 (2) has a greater likelihood than not of becom8 ing lunar in nature, including unintentional orbit 

9 and impact. 

Æ 


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