I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5336

To provide for a prize program to encourage development of space and 

aeronautics technologies and establish an endowment to further educate 

and inspire the public’s interest in space and aeronautics. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 8, 2004

Mr. ROHRABACHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science 

A BILL

To provide for a prize program to encourage development 

of space and aeronautics technologies and establish an 

endowment to further educate and inspire the public’s 

interest in space and aeronautics.

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 ‘‘Space and Aeronautics 

5 Prize Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR SPACE AND AERO2 NAUTICS. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Na4 tional Endowment for Space and Aeronautics (referred to 

5 in this Act as the ‘‘Endowment’’). 

6 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Endowment is—

7 (1) to further the public’s knowledge of and in8 spiration by the Earth, the Earth’s atmosphere, 

9 human and robotic spaceflight and science missions, 

10 and celestial bodies in space; 

11 (2) to carry out a program to award cash prizes 

12 in recognition of outstanding achievements in basic, 

13 advanced, and applied research, technology develop14 ment, and prototype demonstration that have the po15 tential for application to the Nation’s space and 

16 aeronautical endeavors in conjunction with, or inde17 pendent of, the National Aeronautics and Space Ad18 ministration (in this Act referred to as ‘‘NASA’’); 

19 (3) to carry out a program for tasteful adver20 tising of commercial products and services in con21 junction with the Nation’s space and aeronautics en22 deavors in conjunction with, or independent of, 

23 NASA; and 

24 (4) to encourage private gifts of real and per25 sonal property or any income therefrom or other in26 terest therein for the benefit of, or in connection 
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1 with, the Nation’s aeronautics and space endeavors 

2 to include those of the National Aeronautics and 

3 Space Administration, its activities and its services. 

4 (c) CHAIRPERSON OF THE ENDOWMENT.—The En5 dowment shall be headed by a Chairperson, who shall be 

6 appointed by the President, by and with the advice and 

7 consent of the Senate. Under the supervision and direction 

8 of the President, the Chairperson shall be responsible for 

9 the exercise of all powers and the discharge of all duties 

10 of the Endowment, and shall have authority and control 

11 over all personnel and activities thereof. The Chairperson 

12 shall not engage in any other business, vocation, or em13 ployment while serving as such. 

14 (d) TERMS.—The Chairperson shall serve for a term 

15 of 4 years and shall be eligible for reappointment. Upon 

16 expiration of the chairperson’s term of office the Chair17 person shall serve until the Chairperson’s successor shall 

18 be appointed. 

19 (e) DUTIES.—The Chairperson shall correlate the 

20 programs of the Endowment, insofar as practicable, with 

21 existing programs of Federal, State, regional, or private 

22 groups, and shall develop the programs of the Endowment 

23 with due regard to the contribution to the objectives of 

24 this section which can be made by other Federal agencies 

25 under existing programs. The Chairperson may enter into 
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1 interagency agreements to promote or assist the space and 

2 aeronautics activities of other Federal agencies on a reim3 bursable or nonreimbursable basis, and may use funds au4 thorized to be appropriated for the purposes of subsection 

5 (b) for the costs of such activities. 

6 (f) AUTHORITY OF ENDOWMENT.—In the perform7 ance of carrying out the purposes specified in subsection 

8 (b), the Endowment is authorized—

9 (1) to make, promulgate, issue, rescind, and 

10 amend rules and regulations governing the manner 

11 of its operations and the exercise of the powers vest12 ed in it by law; 

13 (2) to appoint and fix the compensation of such 

14 officers and employees as may be necessary to carry 

15 out the purposes specified in subsection (b), in ac16 cordance with civil service laws; and 

17 (3) to appoint such advisory committees as may 

18 be appropriate for purposes of consultation and ad19 vice to the Endowment. 

20 (g) GIFTS; DEVISES; BEQUESTS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub22 paragraph (2), the Endowment may accept, receive, 

23 solicit, hold, administer, and use any gifts, devises, 

24 or bequests, either absolutely or in trust, of real or 

25 personal property or any income therefrom or other 
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1 interest therein for the benefit of or in connection 

2 with the Nation’s aeronautics and space endeavors 

3 to include those of NASA, its activities or its serv4 ices, including a gift, devise, or bequest that is en5 cumbered, restricted, or subject to beneficial inter6 ests of private persons if any current or future inter7 est therein is for the benefit of the Nation’s aero8 nautics and space endeavors or NASA, its activities 

9 or its services. For purposes of this paragraph, an 

10 interest in real property includes easements or other 

11 rights for preservation, conservation, protection, or 

12 enhancement by and for the public of natural, sce13 nic, historic, scientific, educational, inspirational, or 

14 recreational resources. 

15 (2) LIMITATION.—The Endowment may not ac16 cept a gift, devise, or bequest which entails any ex17 penditure other than from the resources of the En18 dowment. 

19 (3) PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES.—Gifts 

20 and other transfers made to or for the use of the 

21 Endowment shall be regarded as contributions, gifts, 

22 or transfers to or for the use of the United States. 

23 (h) POWERS OF THE ENDOWMENT.—

24 (1) CONTRACT.—The Endowment, with the ad25 vice of NASA and other agencies as appropriate, 
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1 shall have the power to enter into contracts or 

2 grants, to execute instruments, and generally to do 

3 any and all lawful acts necessary or appropriate con4 sistent with the purposes of the Endowment speci5 fied in subsection (b). 

6 (2) PAYMENT.—No payment shall be made 

7 under this section except upon application therefor 

8 which is submitted to the Endowment in accordance 

9 with regulations issued and procedures established 

10 by the Chairperson. Neither NASA nor any em11 ployee thereof is authorized to accept funds from the 

12 Endowment. 

13 (3) COORDINATION WITH NASA.—The Endow14 ment may utilize the services and facilities of NASA, 

15 and such services and facilities may be made avail16 able on request to the extent practicable without re17 imbursement therefor. 

18 (i) REPORTING.—Promptly at the end of each fiscal 

19 year, the Endowment shall transmit to Congress an an20 nual report of its proceedings and activities, including a 

21 full and complete statement of its receipts, expenditures, 

22 and investments. 
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1 SEC. 3. PRIZE AWARD PROGRAM TO ENCOURAGE DEVELOP2 MENT OF ADVANCED SPACE AND AERO3 NAUTICAL TECHNOLOGIES. 

4 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Chairperson may carry out a 

5 program to award cash prizes in recognition of out6 standing achievements in basic, advanced, and applied re7 search, technology development, and prototype demonstra8 tion that have the potential for application to the perform9 ance of the space and aeronautical activities of the Na10 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

11 (b) COMPETITION REQUIREMENTS.—The Endow12 ment shall—

13 (1) widely advertise prize competitions and use 

14 a competitive process for the selection of recipients 

15 of prizes under this section. 

16 (2) make a determination prior to the advertise17 ment required under paragraph (1) if an individual 

18 prize might have benefits for private entities within 

19 the United States as well as NASA. 

20 (c) REGISTRATION.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Endowment shall re22 quire potential recipients of prizes to register for any 

23 prize competition under the program established 

24 under this section, and, as part of the registration 

25 process, to assume any and all risks and waive 

26 claims against the United States Government and 
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1 its related entities for any injury, death, damage, 

2 loss of property or revenue or profits, whether di3 rect, indirect or consequential, arising from their 

4 participation in a competition, whether such injury, 

5 death, damage or loss arises through negligence or 

6 otherwise, except in the case of willful misconduct. 

7 (2) RELATED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘related enti8 ty’’ includes a contractor or subcontractor at any 

9 tier, a supplier, user, customer, cooperating party, 

10 grantee, investigator or detailee. 

11 (d) LIMITATIONS.—The following limitations apply: 

12 (1) The total amount of cash prizes budgeted in 

13 a fiscal year may not exceed $150,000,000. 

14 (2) No prize competition may result in the 

15 award of more than $10,000,000 in cash prizes 

16 without the approval of the Chairperson or designee. 

17 (e) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds appropriated 

18 for the program authorized by this section shall remain 

19 available for 2 years. 

20 (f) REPORT.—The Chairperson shall transmit to the 

21 Committees on Appropriations and on Commerce, Science, 

22 and Transportation of the Senate and to the Committees 

23 on Appropriations and on Science of the House of Rep24 resentatives a report on the administration of the program 

25 for that fiscal year. The report shall include—
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1 (1) the space and aeronautics applications for 

2 which cash prizes were awarded; 

3 (2) the total amount of the cash prizes award4 ed; and 

5 (3) the methods used for solicitation and eval6 uation of submissions, together with an assessment 

7 of the effectiveness of those methods. 

8 SEC. 4. ORBITAL DEMONSTRATION PRIZE AUTHORITY. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Endowment shall carry out 

10 a program to award a prize for the demonstration of a 

11 space flight vehicle to carry at least 1 person to a min12 imum altitude of 400 kilometers originating from within 

13 the United States or its territories, complete at least 3 

14 complete orbits of the Earth, and return safely to the 

15 Earth. It is highly desirable for the space flight vehicle 

16 to demonstrate a high degree of reusability for future 

17 flights beyond the demonstration flight. 

18 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—In order to be eli19 gible for the prize described in this section, the space flight 

20 vehicle—

21 (1) shall be built with the capacity to carry a 

22 minimum of 3 persons; 

23 (2) shall not have been substantially developed 

24 under a contract or grant from any foreign or do25 mestic government; 
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1 (3) may use a foreign or domestic space launch 

2 vehicle to launch the space flight vehicle to orbit; 

3 and 

4 (4) comply with, or obtain waivers for, all inter5 national, national, regional, or local laws or regula6 tions which pertain to the activities described in this 

7 section. 

8 (c) AMOUNT OF PRIZE.—The total amount of cash 

9 prize for the program described in this section may not 

10 exceed $100,000,000. 

11 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

12 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 

13 may be necessary to carry out this Act.

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