Posted: Thu, Nov 18, 2004, 8:11 AM ET (1311 GMT)
Congress has approved a bill that would extend indemnification for commercial launch operators for five years, but a House committee has killed a proposed compromise on another bill that would support the commercial suborbital spaceflight industry. The Senate passed by unanimous consent late Tuesday HR 5245, a bill that extends an existing indemnification provision for five years. The House passed the bill last month, and the President is expected to sign the legislation into law. The bill requires commercial launch operators to purchase insurance for the "maximum probable loss" to uninvolved parties from a launch, with the government providing coverage for any additional losses up to $1.5 billion. The bill also requires a study to determine if such indemnification is really required. That extension had previously been a provision in HR 3752, a bill designed primarily to support developers of commercial manned suborbital vehicles, such as SpaceShipOne. The bill passed the House nearly unanimously in March, but had been bogged down in the Senate over concerns about definitions and passenger safety. An agreement between House and Senate negotiators was reached late last week, but that deal was lost when the House Transportation Committee raised new issues about the bill. Barring a last-minute deal, the bill will die and supporters will have to start over next year.

Related Links:

•  MSNBC article
•  House Science Committee press release