H. R. 1702
One Hundred Fifth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight
An Act
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 Representatives 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 1998’’.
(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.
Sec. 107. Sources of Earth science data.
TITLE II—FEDERAL ACQUISITION OF SPACE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
Sec. 201. Requirement to procure commercial space transportation services.
Sec. 202. Acquisition of commercial space transportation services.
Sec. 203. Launch Services Purchase Act of 1990 amendments.
Sec. 204. Shuttle privatization.
Sec. 205. Use of excess intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Sec. 206. National launch capability study.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Administrator of
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration;
(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 under-
takes to transport to, from, or within outer space, or in sub-
orbital 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
adapted 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 vehicle and its payloads
H. R. 1702—2
for transportation to, from, or within outer space, or in sub-
orbital 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 operating in, or transport-
ing a payload to, from, or within, outer space, or in suborbital
trajectory, and includes 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 commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United
States; and
(8) the term ‘‘United States commercial provider’’ 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 evidenced a
substantial commitment to the United States market
through—
(I) investments in the United States in long-
term research, development, 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 organized, and, if appro-
priate, in which it principally conducts its business,
affords reciprocal treatment to companies described
in subparagraph (A) comparable to that afforded to
such foreign company’s subsidiary in the United States,
as evidenced by—
(I) providing comparable opportunities for
companies described in subparagraph (A) to
participate in Government sponsored research and
development similar to that authorized under this
Act;
(II) providing no barriers, to companies
described in subparagraph (A) with respect to local
investment opportunities, that are not provided
to foreign companies in the United States; and
(III) providing adequate and effective protec-
tion for the intellectual property rights of compa-
nies described in subparagraph (A).
H. R. 1702—3
TITLE I—PROMOTION OF COMMERCIAL
SPACE OPPORTUNITIES
SEC. 101. COMMERCIALIZATION OF SPACE STATION.
(a) POLICY.—The Congress declares that a priority goal of con-
structing the International Space Station is the economic develop-
ment of Earth orbital space. The Congress further declares that
free and competitive markets create the most efficient conditions
for promoting economic development, and should therefore govern
the economic development of Earth orbital space. The Congress
further declares that the use of free market principles in operating,
servicing, allocating the use of, and adding capabilities to the Space
Station, and the resulting fullest possible engagement of commercial
providers and participation of commercial users, will reduce Space
Station operational costs for all partners and the Federal Govern-
ment’s share of the United States burden to fund operations.
(b) REPORTS.—(1) The Administrator shall deliver to the
Committee on Science of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen-
ate, within 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
a study that identifies and examines—
(A) the opportunities for commercial providers to play a
role in International Space Station activities, including oper-
ation, use, servicing, and augmentation;
(B) the potential cost savings to be derived from commercial
providers playing a role in each of these activities;
(C) which of the opportunities described in subparagraph
(A) the Administrator plans to make available to commercial
providers in fiscal years 1999 and 2000;
(D) the specific policies and initiatives the Administrator
is advancing to encourage and facilitate these commercial
opportunities; and
(E) the revenues and cost reimbursements to the Federal
Government from commercial users of the Space Station.
(2) The Administrator shall deliver to the Committee on Science
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate, within 180 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act, an independently conducted
market study that examines and evaluates potential industry
interest in providing commercial goods and services for the oper-
ation, servicing, and augmentation of the International Space Sta-
tion, and in the commercial use of the International Space Station.
This study shall also include updates to the cost savings and reve-
nue estimates made in the study described in paragraph (1) based
on the external market assessment.
(3) The Administrator shall deliver to the Congress, no later
than the submission of the President’s annual budget request for
fiscal year 2000, a report detailing how many proposals (whether
solicited or not) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
received during calendar years 1997 and 1998 regarding commercial
operation, servicing, utilization, or augmentation of the Inter-
national Space Station, broken down by each of these four cat-
egories, and specifying how many agreements the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration has entered into in response
to these proposals, also broken down by these four categories.