Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004

COMMERCIAL SPACE LAUNCH AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - March 04, 2004)

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Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) for the purposes of a colloquy.

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) bringing this important bill to the floor, because the emerging commercial human space flight industry presents tremendous opportunities for my State of Oklahoma and our Nation as a whole. I am particularly appreciative of this bill's intent to ease the regulatory burdens for entrepreneurs who are developing new suborbital reusable launch vehicles.

Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his kind words. He is correct in stating that this legislation seeks to put in place sufficient Federal regulation to protect the general public while also promoting this important new industry.

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. As you know, Mr. Chairman, some suborbital reusable launch vehicles that will be used in commercial human space flight activities may have some attributes normally associated with airplanes as well as many attributes of rockets. My hope is that such hybrid vehicles would not have to be regulated under two separate regimes. What are the chairman's views on this matter?

Mr. BOEHLERT. I thank the gentleman for that question.

This is a very important issue on which we have worked extensively with industry and the executive branch in developing this bill. As currently drafted, H.R. 3752 incorporates definitions promulgated by the Federal Aviation Administration to distinguish between suborbital rockets, which are under the jurisdiction of FAA's Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transport, and other aerospace vehicles which are regulated by another part of the FAA. That said, I would be happy to keep working with the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) and other interested parties as the bill moves forward to revisit the important issue of how best to regulate hybrid vehicles that are engaged in commercial human space flight.

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma. I thank the chairman and I look forward to continuing to work with him and our colleagues in the other body to see if we can create a single regime for hybrid commercial space flight vehicles.