Posted: Thu, Dec 9, 2004, 8:22 AM ET (1322 GMT)
In the final hours of the 108th Congress, the US Senate approved legislation designed to improve the regulatory environment for commercial spaceflight, including space tourism. The Senate approved by unanimous consent HR 5382, the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act. The bill provides definitions of suborbital vehicles and ensures that such vehicles will be regulated as launch vehicles rather than aircraft. The legislation also includes an experimental permit provision that will make it easier for commercial vehicle developers to get regulatory approval for test flights of new vehicles. The bill, which passed the House last month by a 269-120 margin, won Senate approval less than two hours before the Senate adjourned for the year; had the Senate not acted, the bill would have died. The legislation overcame a number of hurdles to win passage, most recently a hold placed on the bill in the Senate.
