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[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5345 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5345

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 28, 2018

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
     To designate the Marshall Space Flight Center of the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration to provide leadership for the U.S. 
       rocket propulsion industrial base, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``American Leadership in Space 
Technology and Advanced Rocketry Act'' or the ``ALSTAR Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Non-military rocket propulsion is an enabling 
        technology for our Nation's future prosperous way of life.
            (2) Non-military rocket propulsion technologies are 
        critical to national security, intelligence gathering, 
        communications, weather forecasting, navigation, 
        communications, entertainment, land use, Earth observation, and 
        scientific exploration.
            (3) The non-military rocket propulsion industry is a source 
        of high-quality jobs.
            (4) Multiple Federal agencies and companies are involved in 
        non-military rocket propulsion research, development, and 
        manufacturing.
            (5) Integration, coordination, and cooperation would 
        strengthen the United States non-military rocket propulsion 
        industrial base.
            (6) Erosion of the non-military rocket propulsion 
        industrial base would seriously impact national security, space 
        exploration potential, and economic growth.
            (7) The Marshall Space Flight Center has decades of 
        experience working with other Government agencies and industry 
        partners to study and coordinate these capabilities.
            (8) The Marshall Space Flight Center has made historic and 
        unique contributions--
                    (A) by bringing stakeholders together to work on 
                non-military rocket propulsion industrial base 
                sustainment;
                    (B) of technical expertise to key studies and 
                review boards; and
                    (C) by consistently participating in interagency 
                working groups to address non-military rocket 
                propulsion issues.

SEC. 3. NON-MILITARY ROCKET PROPULSION LEADERSHIP.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
Marshall Space Flight Center is the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration's lead center for non-military rocket propulsion and is 
essential to sustaining and promoting United States leadership in non-
military rocket propulsion and developing the next generation of non-
military rocket propulsion capabilities.
    (b) Leadership in Non-Military Rocket Propulsion.--The Marshall 
Space Flight Center shall provide national leadership in NASA in non-
military rocket propulsion by--
            (1) contributing to interagency coordination for the 
        preservation of critical national non-military rocket 
        propulsion capabilities;
            (2) collaborating with industry, academia, and professional 
        organizations to most effectively use national capabilities and 
        resources;
            (3) monitoring public- and private-sector non-military 
        rocket propulsion activities to develop and promote a strong, 
        healthy non-military rocket propulsion industrial base;
            (4) facilitating technical solutions for existing and 
        emerging non-military rocket propulsion challenges;
            (5) supporting the development and refinement of non-
        military rocket propulsion for small satellites;
            (6) evaluating and recommending, as appropriate, new non-
        military rocket propulsion technologies for further 
        development; and
            (7) providing information required by national decision 
        makers so that policies and other instruments of the Government 
        support the development and strengthening of the Nation's non-
        military rocket propulsion capabilities throughout the 21st 
        century.

            Passed the House of Representatives June 27, 2018.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.
```