Wed, Feb 11, 2004
House Committee Passes Comm. Space Launch Amendments Act of
2004
XCOR Aerospace praised
the House Science Committee on Monday for its swift markup and
passage of H.R. 3752, the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of
2004, earlier last week. The company is in the business of
developing and producing reusable rocket engines and rocket powered
vehicles.
"The Members and staff of the House Science Committee have
crafted an excellent piece of legislation that will help foster the
new commercial human space flight industry. Several staffers
took the time to understand very technical details and subtle
regulatory and policy issues, and therefore were able to produce a
bill that will make a real difference," said XCOR CEO Jeff
Greason."Ultimate credit goes to the lawmakers who sponsored the
legislation; Mr. Rohrabacher, lead sponsor of this bill, and
co-sponsors Chairman Boehlert, Ranking Member Gordon, Mr. Hall and
Mr. Lampson."
The bill takes major steps such as:
- Providing a clear and enabling regulatory program for
commercial human spaceflight. This program will allow the consuming
public to make an informed decision before undergoing the risks of
spaceflight.
- Creating a new regulatory concept, the "experimental permit",
that has many features of the long-standing experimental aircraft
program. The bill also allows for streamlined regulation and
the conduct of reusable launch vehicle test flights.
- Eliminating uncertain or overlapping jurisdiction between
airplanes and space vehicles. The legislation confirms that the
FAA's Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation
(AST) has sole authority over suborbital vehicles.
- Extending the existing liability indemnification for the entire
commercial space transportation industry in general, and confirms
its application to commercial human spaceflight.
XCOR urges everyone interested in the commercialization of space
to write or call their Member of Congress. In your communications,
request they co-sponsor H.R. 3752 and support the bill when it
comes up for vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.
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