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Space Race 2: Congress Weighs In
Cape Canaveral FL (UPI) Nov 23, 2004 It lacks the panache and the publicity of SpaceShipOne's sprints beyond Earth's atmosphere, but legislation revived last weekend from near-death might do as much for bolstering a commercial human spaceflight industry as Burt Rutan's winged wonder. The House of Representatives approved the bill, called the Commercial Space Launch Act, on Saturday by a vote of 269 to 120. It sets the regulatory framework for private space travel based in the United States. Though in principle legislators solidly support the idea of space tourism, when it comes time to structure the government's roles and responsibilities in this new arena, unanimity breaks down. For example, disagreement among members of a key House subcommittee considering the proposed amendment to the CSLA tossed a procedural monkey wrench into the legislative process, setting the stage for a lively, 11th hour debate about how much oversight the government should have to let passengers fly - and possibly die - aboard privately owned and operated sub-orbital space vehicles. To underscore the contentiousness, the opponents of the bill challenged the results of a voice vote Friday, forcing members to reconvene Saturday for a roll call. Bill sponsor Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., acknowledged the measure was imperfect, but warned that a failure to enact it would be totally going in the wrong direction. We can come back in the next few years and add what we want, Rohrabacher said. For years, legislators have had the luxury of debating theoretical scenarios about non-government human space travel. With the showcase flights of SpaceShipOne, which three times tapped its toe in the domain of space - as well as the myriad of rocketeers lining up for test flights and promoting plans for space tourism businesses - lawmakers suddenly are reckoning with a new space age.
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