Chair and Ranking Member of the Space and Science Subcommittee partner on bipartisan bill raising industry standards to fuel innovation while protecting safety
WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) – Chair and Ranking Member of the Space and Science Subcommittee respectively – introduced the Commercial Standards Paramount to Accelerating Cosmic Exploration (SPACE) Leadership Act of 2024.
The Commercial SPACE Leadership Act requires the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to regulate the safety and wellbeing of commercial space passengers and non-crew occupants. The legislation will end what is known as the “learning period”— fueling innovation while protecting the safety of human space flight participants. The Act will ensure FAA, industry, and human space flight experts work together to build a safe regulatory environment for all.
“Our bipartisan legislation enhances commercial space travel by increasing safety and ensuring America’s continued leadership in space innovation and exploration,” said Sinema, Chair of the Space and Science Subcommittee.
“Greatness is achieved though good faith and collaboration, which is exactly what the Commercial SPACE Leadership Act aims to accomplish. By allowing private companies the leeway to drive and provide input on future commercial human space flight regulations, we are facilitating a new era that maintains and improves our competitiveness in space. Continuing the ‘light touch’ approach provided by the learning period and creating new areas for industry to provide input is crucial to supporting the commercial space sector and our nation’s larger space endeavors. Simply put, this bill keeps regulations at bay for another five years, allowing industry and the government to continue to work towards an eventual framework,” said Schmitt, Ranking Member of the Space and Science Subcommittee.
Space travel is no longer exclusively a state endeavor, as commercial companies launch U.S. satellites into space, provide data relay, Earth observation, and other services, and are working to expand human activities in space. The Act has generated strong support from the commercial space industry.
“SpaceX supports this bill, particularly its focus on efficient licensing modernization to keep pace with commercial innovation and the industry’s demonstrated commitment to safety,” said William Gerstenmaier, VP, Build & Flight Reliability, SpaceX.
“Blue Origin strongly supports the Commercial SPACE Leadership Act of 2024. This bill’s emphasis on sustained collaboration will ensure that the Office of Commercial Space Transportation benefits from the experience gained by human spaceflight providers. An extended learning period will enable us to build on our strong foundations of safety and innovation as the industry continues to grow. We thank subcommittee Chair Sinema and Ranking Member Schmitt for their bipartisan work on this timely legislation,” said Megan Mitchell, Vice President, Government Relations, Blue Origin.
“The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) applauds Senators Sinema and Schmitt, bipartisan Senate Subcommittee on Space and Science leadership, for introducing this important legislation,” said Karina Drees, CSF President. “The commercial space industry is eager to work with its government partners in Congress and the executive branch to chart a productive path forward that continues to promote human spaceflight innovation and safety. The framework laid out in this bill puts our nation on that path.”
Sinema and Schmitt held two hearings seeking feedback from commercial space industry and federal government leaders last year, where they consistently heard about the need to address the commercial space flight “learning period.” Following the hearings, Sinema and Schmitt worked to craft bipartisan legislation to responsibly end the learning period — strengthening industry standards and giving regulatory certainty to promote safe, effective, and innovative space travel.
The Commercial SPACE Leadership Act would:
- Extend the learning period for 5 years with a sunset.
- Require the commercial space industry to develop voluntary consensus standards in the interim.
- Mandate that those industry standards inform the work of a rulemaking committee (SpARC) that recommends FAA final regulations.
- Require the FAA to specify why any final regulations deviate from the SpARC recommendations.