I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 912
To authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Admin-
istration to establish an awards program in honor of Charles ‘‘Pete’’ 
Conrad, astronaut and space scientist, for recognizing the discoveries 
made by amateur astronomers of asteroids with near-Earth orbit trajec-
tories. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 25, 2003
Mr. ROHRABACHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Science 
A BILL 
To authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration to establish an awards pro-
gram in honor of Charles ‘‘Pete’’ Conrad, astronaut and 
space scientist, for recognizing the discoveries made by 
amateur astronomers of asteroids with near-Earth orbit 
trajectories.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad 
Astronomy Awards Act’’.
SEC. 2. PETE CONRAD ASTRONOMY AWARD PROGRAM. 
(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Administrator of 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (here-
after referred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) is authorized to 
establish the Charles ‘‘Pete’’ Conrad Astronomy Awards 
Program. The Administrator is authorized to contract 
with the Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian Astro-
physical Observatory (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Minor 
Planet Center’’) to administer the program. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program author-
ized by subsection (a) shall be to award outstanding ama-
teur astronomers who make asteroid discoveries and to 
augment asteroid discovery efforts by the Government. 
(c) AWARD CATEGORIES.—The award program au-
thorized under subsection (a) shall consist of 3 categories 
of awards as follows: 
(1) FIRST CATEGORY.—An award in the first 
category shall be presented annually to the amateur 
astronomer who, using amateur equipment only, dis-
covers the largest absolute magnitude new asteroid 
having a near-Earth orbit during the preceding cal-
endar year. 
(2) SECOND CATEGORY.—An award in the sec-
ond category shall be presented annually to an ama-
teur astronomer for pre-discovery and recovery ef-
forts, including—
(A) the discovery of asteroids by an ama-
teur as a result of information produced by pro-
fessional telescopes or as a result of the ama-
teur’s use of time on professional equipment; 
and 
(B) efforts to locate newly discovered as-
teroids using old images and already discovered 
near-Earth orbit asteroids that have been 
‘‘lost’’. 
(3) THIRD CATEGORY.—An award in the third 
category shall be presented annually to the amateur 
astronomer, or professional not funded for optical 
astronomy, who provides the greatest service to up-
date the minor planet catalogue. Eligible discoveries 
may be made by visual, photographic, or electronic 
means. 
(d) GUIDELINES FOR AWARDING PRIZES.—General 
guidelines for the awarding of prizes are as follows: 
(1) Prizes shall be awarded to the person or 
group with the greatest contributions as determined 
by the Minor Planet Center for the second and third 
categories. 
(2) The award in the first category shall not be 
presented for years in which there are no eligible as-
teroid discoveries.