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Y 4. Sci 2: 100/114

H.R. 3765, THE COMMERCIAL SPACE
LAUNCH ACT AMENDMENTS

CS RECORD ONLY

HEARINGS

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON

SPACE SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON

SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDREDTH CONGRESS

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For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY

ROBERT A. ROE, New Jersey, Chairman

GEORGE E. BROWN, JR., California
JAMES H. SCHEUER, New York
MARILYN LLOYD, Tennessee
DOUG WALGREN, Pennsylvania
DAN GLICKMAN, Kansas
HAROLD L. VOLKMER, Missouri
BILL NELSON, Florida
RALPH M. HALL, Texas
DAVE MCCURDY, Oklahoma
NORMAN Y. MINETA, California
BUDDY MACKAY, Florida

TIM VALENTINE, North Carolina

ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey
RICK BOUCHER, Virginia
TERRY L. BRUCE, Illinois
RICHARD H. STALLINGS, Idaho
JAMES A. TRAFICANT, JR., Ohio
JIM CHAPMAN, Texas
LEE H. HAMILTON, Indiana
HENRY J. NOWAK, New York
CARL C. PERKINS, Kentucky

C. THOMAS MCMILLEN, Maryland
DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina
DAVID R. NAGLE, Iowa

JIMMY HAYES, Louisiana

DAVID E. SKAGGS, Colorado

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania

GEORGE J. HOCHBRUECKNER, New York

MANUEL LUJAN, JR., New Mexico*
ROBERT S. WALKER, Pennsylvania
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR.,
Wisconsin

CLAUDINE SCHNEIDER, Rhode Island
SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York
TOM LEWIS, Florida

DON RITTER, Pennsylvania

SID MORRISON, Washington

RON PACKARD, California

ROBERT C. SMITH, New Hampshire
PAUL B. HENRY, Michigan

HARRIS W. FAWELL, Illinois

D. FRENCH SLAUGHTER, JR., Virginia
LAMAR SMITH, Texas

ERNEST L. KONNYU, California
JACK BUECHNER, Missouri
JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado

CONSTANCE A. MORELLA, Maryland
CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut

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CONTENTS

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APPENDICES

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H.R. 3765, COMMERCIAL SPACE LAUNCH ACT

AMENDMENTS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1988

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS,

Washington, DC.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1:30 p.m., in Room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Bill Nelson (chairman of the subcommittee), presiding.

Mr. NELSON. The meeting will come to order.

I want to extend a warm welcome to our witnesses as we open this second session of the Congress, at this subcommittee's hearing on a new legislative initiative, H.R. 3765, the Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments.

Five months ago we had a hearing, two days of hearings, and the purpose of those hearings was to gain insight into the progress made toward developing a truly commercial launch industry. We found that over the course of one year after the determination of the Space Shuttle that it would no longer be available to commercial users that there were a number of interesting findings. And so let me relate to you and refresh your memory from what we learned on September the 15th and September the 17th.

We learned that America's launch providers had made significant investments in order to enter the world launch competition. We learned also that several companies had succeeded in signing up satellite customers for launches beginning in 1989, but that none of those were American companies. We learned that satellite customers could obtain neither cost quotes nor launch quotes from American launch providers. Why? Because the Government had not made a clear commitment to recognize commercial providers as a partner and a user of the national ranges.

We also learned that despite the passage of the Commercial Space Launch Act of '84, which consolidated authority over commercial space transportation into a single department, the Department of Transportation, a multi-agency space policy decisionmaking quagmire persisted, with each agency protecting its own turf.

We further learned that the Government's pronouncements of fostering this new industry were not being translated into workable, commercially reasonable agreements. Across-the-board, the Government's Model Range Use Agreement, which was the principal agreement setting forth the terms and conditions, that agree

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