IB
Union Calendar No. 200
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1702
[Report No. 105–347]
To encourage the development of a commercial space industry in the United
States, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 22, 1997
Mr. SENSENBRENNER (for himself, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. BROWN of Cali-
fornia, Mr. CRAMER, and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science
OCTOBER 24, 1997
Additional sponsors: Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. WELDON of Flor-
ida, Mr. CANNON, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SALMON, Mr. HALL of Texas, and
Mr. FOLEY
OCTOBER 24, 1997
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 22, 1997]
A BILL
To encourage the development of a commercial space
industry in the United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Commercial Space Act of 1997’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
TITLE I—PROMOTION OF COMMERCIAL SPACE OPPORTUNITIES
Sec. 101. Commercialization of space station.
Sec. 102. Commercial space launch amendments.
Sec. 103. Launch voucher demonstration program.
Sec. 104. Promotion of United States Global Positioning System standards.
Sec. 105. Acquisition of space science data.
Sec. 106. Administration of Commercial Space Centers.
TITLE II—REMOTE SENSING
Sec. 201. Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 amendments.
Sec. 202. Acquisition of earth science data.
TITLE III—FEDERAL ACQUISITION OF SPACE TRANSPORTATION
SERVICES
Sec. 301. Requirement to procure commercial space transportation services.
Sec. 302. Acquisition of space transportation services.
Sec. 303. Launch Services Purchase Act of 1990 amendments.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Admin-
istrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration;
(2) the term ‘‘commercial provider’’ means any
person providing space transportation services or
other space-related activities, primary control of
which is held by persons other than Federal, State,
local, and foreign governments;
(3) the term ‘‘payload’’ means anything that a
person undertakes to transport to, from, or within
outer space, or in suborbital trajectory, by means of
a space transportation vehicle, but does not include
the space transportation vehicle itself except for its
components which are specifically designed or adapt-
ed for that payload;
(4) the term ‘‘space-related activities’’ includes
research and development, manufacturing, processing,
service, and other associated and support activities;
(5) the term ‘‘space transportation services’’
means the preparation of a space transportation vehi-
cle and its payloads for transportation to, from, or
within outer space, or in suborbital trajectory, and
the conduct of transporting a payload to, from, or
within outer space, or in suborbital trajectory;
(6) the term ‘‘space transportation vehicle’’
means any vehicle constructed for the purpose of oper-
ating in, or transporting a payload to, from, or with-
in, outer space, or in suborbital trajectory, and in-
cludes any component of such vehicle not specifically
designed or adapted for a payload;
(7) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several
States of the Union, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, and any other common-
wealth, territory, or possession of the United States;
and
(8) the term ‘‘United States commercial pro-
vider’’ means a commercial provider, organized under
the laws of the United States or of a State, which is—
(A) more than 50 percent owned by United
States nationals; or
(B) a subsidiary of a foreign company and
the Secretary of Transportation finds that—
(i) such subsidiary has in the past evi-
denced a substantial commitment to the
United States market through—
(I) investments in the United
States in long-term research, develop-
ment, and manufacturing (including
the manufacture of major components
and subassemblies); and
(II) significant contributions to
employment in the United States; and
(ii) the country or countries in which
such foreign company is incorporated or or-
ganized, and, if appropriate, in which it
principally conducts its business, affords re-
ciprocal treatment to companies described
in subparagraph (A) comparable to that af-
forded to such foreign company’s subsidiary
in the United States, as evidenced by—
(I) providing comparable oppor-
tunities for companies described in
subparagraph (A) to participate in
Government sponsored research and de-
velopment similar to that authorized
under this Act;
(II) providing no barriers, to
companies described in subparagraph
(A) with respect to local investment op-
portunities, that are not provided to
foreign 
companies 
in 
the 
United
States; and
(III) providing adequate and ef-
fective protection for the intellectual
property rights of companies described
in subparagraph (A).