IC 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1694 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 19, 2019 

Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition 

to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

AN ACT 

To require any Federal agency that issues licenses to conduct 

lunar activities 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘One Small Step to 

3 Protect Human Heritage in Space Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find6 ings: 

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

8 launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center 

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

10 Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins. 

11 (2) July 20, 2019, will mark the 50th anniver12 sary of the date on which the Apollo 11 spacecraft 

13 landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong and Buzz 

14 Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on a ce15 lestial body off the Earth. 

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

17 humanity’s first off-world footprints are achieve18 ments unparalleled in history, a direct product of the 

19 work and perseverance of the more than 400,000 in20 dividuals who contributed to the development of the 

21 Apollo missions on the shoulders of centuries of 

22 science and engineering pioneers from all corners of 

23 the world. 

24 (4) Among the thousands of individuals who 

25 have contributed to the achievements of the National 

26 Aeronautics and Space Administration (in this secVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:29 Jul 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1694.RFH S1694

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1 tion referred to as ‘‘NASA’’) are African-American 

2 women such as Katherine Johnson, Dorothy 

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

4 who made critical contributions to NASA space pro5 grams. Katherine Johnson worked at NASA for 35 

6 years and calculated the trajectory of the Apollo 11 

7 landing and the trajectories for the spaceflights of 

8 astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn. Katherine 

9 Johnson, together with many other individuals the 

10 work of whom often went unacknowledged, helped 

11 broaden the scope of space travel and charted new 

12 frontiers for humanity’s exploration of space. 

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

14 made on behalf of all humankind, and Neil Arm15 strong and Buzz Aldrin were accompanied by mes16 sages of peace from the leaders of more than 70 

17 countries. 

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

19 spacecraft, the robotic spacecraft that preceded the 

20 Apollo 11 mission, and the crewed and robotic 

21 spacecraft that followed, are of outstanding uni22 versal value to humanity. 

23 (7) Such landing sites— 

24 (A) are the first archaeological sites with 

25 human activity that are not on Earth; 


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1 (B) provide evidence of the first achieve2 ments of humankind in the realm of space trav3 el and exploration; and 

4 (C) contain artifacts and other evidence of 

5 human exploration activities that remain a po6 tential source of cultural, historical, archae7 ological, anthropological, scientific, and engi8 neering knowledge. 

9 (8) On July 20, 2011, NASA published the vol10 untary guidance entitled ‘‘NASA’s Recommendations 

11 to Space-Faring Entities: How to Protect and Pre12 serve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Gov13 ernment Lunar Artifacts’’. 

14 (9) In March 2018, the Office of Science and 

15 Technology Policy published a report entitled ‘‘Pro16 tecting & Preserving Apollo Program Lunar Landing 

17 Sites & Artifacts’’. 

18 (10) Space-faring entities based outside the 

19 United States have the capacity to land on the 

20 Moon. 

21 (11) The licensing requirements under this Act 

22 are applicable only to United States-based lunar ac23 tivities and therefore have limited efficacy for pro24 tecting the Apollo 11 landing site, other similar his25 toric sites, and lunar artifacts from disturbances 


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1 caused by space-faring entities based outside the 

2 United States. 

3 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that— 

5 (1) as commercial enterprises and more coun6 tries acquire the ability to land on the Moon, it is 

7 necessary to ensure the recognition and protection of 

8 the Apollo 11 landing site and other historic landing 

9 sites in acknowledgment of the human effort and in10 novation the sites represent; 

11 (2) the Apollo 11 landing site, other similar his12 toric landing sites, lunar artifacts, and the environ13 ment surrounding such sites and artifacts merit 

14 legal protection from disturbance to prevent irreme15 diable loss of sites and artifacts that are of archeo16 logical, anthropological, historical, scientific, and en17 gineering significance and value; and 

18 (3) the President should work with other coun19 tries to develop best practices to ensure the protec20 tion of historic lunar landing sites and artifacts. 

21 SEC. 3. LICENSING REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING PRESER22 VATION OF HISTORIC LUNAR LANDING SITES. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

24 date of the enactment of this Act, any Federal agency that 


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1 issues a license to conduct a lunar activity shall require 

2 each applicant for such a license— 

3 (1) to agree to abide by the recommendations 

4 described in subsection (b); or 

5 (2) in the case of a lunar activity that requires 

6 a license from more than one Federal agency, to cer7 tify under penalty of perjury as provided in para8 graph (1) or (2), as applicable, of section 1746 of 

9 title 28, United States Code, that the applicant has 

10 submitted an application for a license for such activ11 ity to another Federal agency that satisfies para12 graph (1). 

13 (b) RECOMMENDATIONS DESCRIBED.—The rec14 ommendations described in this subsection are— 

15 (1) ‘‘NASA’s Recommendations to Space16 Faring Entities: How to Protect and Preserve the 

17 Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Government 

18 Lunar Artifacts’’ issued by the National Aeronautics 

19 and Space Administration on July 20, 2011, and up20 dated on October 28, 2011; and 

21 (2) any successor heritage preservation rec22 ommendations, guidelines, or principles relating to 

23 the protection and preservation of Government lunar 

24 artifacts issued by the National Aeronautics and 

25 Space Administration. 


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1 (c) EXEMPTIONS.—A Federal agency issuing a li2 cense described in subsection (a) may, in consultation with 

3 the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 

4 Administration, exempt specific lunar activities of an ap5 plicant from the historic preservation agreement or certifi6 cation under subsection (a) if such bona fide activities are 

7 determined to have legitimate and significant historical, 

8 archeological, anthropological, scientific, or engineering 

9 value. 

10 (d) AUTHORITY TO ASSESS PENALTY FEES.— 

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

12 license described in subsection (a) may assess a pen13 alty fee on the holder of such license for conduct 

14 that violates one or more terms of the license relat15 ing to the agreement under subsection (a)(1). 

16 (2) AMOUNT.—The penalty fee amount as17 sessed under paragraph (1) shall be— 

18 (A) commensurate with the nature and ex19 tent of the violation; and 

20 (B) sufficient to deter future violations. 

21 (e) LUNAR ACTIVITY DEFINED.—In this section, the 

22 term ‘‘lunar activity’’ means an action or endeavor in 

23 space that— 

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

25 lunar orbit, landing, and impact; or 


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1 (2) has a greater likelihood than not of becom2 ing lunar in nature, including unintentional orbit 

3 and impact. 

Passed the Senate July 18, 2019. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


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