SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Space Access Improve-
ment Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) the commercialization of space has played a
significant role in establishing the United States as
an economic superpower;
(2) vital services enabled by satellites in space,
such as global positioning, early ballistic missile
launch warning, weather observations, intelligence
gathering, and global communications, have played a
significant role in establishing the United States as
a military superpower;
(3) access to space enables research in space
science to enhance our understanding of the Uni-
verse and the physical sciences, and enables observa-
tions of the Earth to monitor our global environ-
ment, establishing the United States as a scientific
and technological superpower;
(4) activities in space have a remarkable ability
to inspire future generations of Americans to study
science, engineering, and mathematics, enhancing
the scientific and technical capabilities of the United
States;
(5) the United States is rapidly losing its share
of the commercial space launch market to a number
of foreign nations; and
(6) the Federal Government is currently under-
funding the research and development of cutting-
edge technologies associated with advanced space
transportation systems that would lead to significant
decreases in the costs of access to space.
SEC. 3. REDUCING SPACE ACCESS COSTS.
(a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 102 of the National Aer-
onautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 U.S.C. 2451) is
amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), (e),
(f), (g), and (h) as subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), (h),
and (i), respectively;
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing new subsection:
‘‘(c) The Congress declares that the general welfare
of the United States requires that the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration work to identify and de-
velop innovative technologies which would reduce the costs
of transporting payloads and personnel to and from space,
while simultaneously increasing the reliability and safety
of advanced space transportation systems. The Congress
further declares that the general welfare of the United
States requires that, to the extent feasible, the Federal
Government—
‘‘(1) aggressively fund the development of inno-
vative propulsion systems, high-temperature thermal
protection systems, integrated vehicle health moni-
toring systems, lightweight durable airframes, and
simplified launch and processing operations;
‘‘(2) maintain a concerted effort in the develop-
ment and testing of new space transportation tech-
nologies while providing sufficient funding for basic
scientific research that is necessary for the long-
term, revolutionary advances that will drastically re-
duce the costs of space access;
‘‘(3) enhance United States economic competi-
tiveness by facilitating United States commercial
sector access to space transportation technology,
data, and facilities, within the constraints imposed
by national security considerations;
‘‘(4) enter into appropriate cooperative research
and development agreements with the United States
academic and commercial sectors to advance space
transportation research, development, and oper-
ations;
‘‘(5) minimize regulations that discourage aca-
demic and commercial sector involvement in the de-
velopment of advanced space transportation tech-
nologies;
‘‘(6) utilize to the fullest extent possible exper-
tise and products available within the United States
prior to seeking availability from foreign nations, ex-
cept in cases where such utilization would be incon-
sistent with the United States public interests;
‘‘(7) equitably promote engineering and science
education related to space transportation tech-
nologies, within constraints of national security con-
siderations, to as broad a range of individuals as
possible; and
‘‘(8) continue to closely protect the intellectual
property rights associated with advancements in ad-
vanced space transportation systems to maintain
United States competitiveness in the world.’’; and
(3) in subsection (i), as so redesignated by
paragraph (1) of this subsection, by striking ‘‘sub-
sections (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g)’’ and in-
serting ‘‘this section’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 206 of the
National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 U.S.C.
2476) is amended by striking ‘‘section 102(c)’’ both places
it appears and inserting ‘‘section 102(e)’’.
SEC. 4. FURTHER ADVANCEMENT OF SPACE TRANSPOR-
TATION TECHNOLOGIES.
Section 201 of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration Authorization Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C.
2466) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘is the pri-
mary’’ and inserting ‘‘remains an important’’; and
(2) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘, and must
therefore also be committed to further developing
low-cost, frequent, and reliable access to space’’
after ‘‘transportation’’.
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