“To amend title 51, United States Code, to advance American space operations, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section expresses the sense of Congress on the importance of the commercial space transportation and hypersonic industries to U.S. competitiveness and directs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator to ensure their access to the national airspace system (NAS) while maintaining aviation safety and public health. The section further requires (1) an FAA briefing to Congress within 60 days, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, on plans to address growing airspace needs for commercial space and hypersonics, maintain air traffic operations, implement section 630 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (P.L. 118-63), and estimate required resources and legislative recommendations; (2) a blanket waiver of 14 C.F.R. 450.101(c) for all reentry vehicles upon enactment until a final rule is issued, an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) within three months, a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) within six months, and a final rule within one year to amend 14 C.F.R. §§ 450.101, 450.108, and 450.135 to align conditional expected casualty risk standards with overland launch and reentry operations, plus initiation of related regulatory updates within 30 days; (3) issuance by the Secretary of Transportation, within 90 days, of advisory circulars using chapter 509 of title 51, U.S. Code, to maximize performance-based standards and provide alternatives to prescriptive requirements (e.g., probability of failure determinations) for high-cadence U.S. licensed launches and reentries; (4) prioritization of commercial space operations integration into the NAS to increase annual domestic launch and reentry cadence, plus a report to specified congressional committees within 90 days detailing actions, resources, and projected additional annual launches and reentries; and (5) expedited FAA hiring authority for aerospace engineering positions in the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, allowing appointments within 30 days without competitive service requirements, with a briefing to congressional committees within 45 days and public website reporting on vacancy durations and hires made under this authority.
This section prohibits the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Transportation from carrying out any research or development initiative related to commercial space activities with (1) an entity of concern (as defined in 42 U.S.C. 18912), (2) a foreign business entity (i.e., an entity organized under the laws of, owned or controlled by, or a governmental organization of a foreign country of concern), or (3) a foreign country of concern (as defined in 15 U.S.C. 4651).