WASHINGTON — Two bills recently introduced into the Senate would reform regulation of commercial space activities, including putting into motion an eventual end of the “learning period” limiting human spaceflight safety rules.
The Commercial Standards Paramount to Accelerating Cosmic Exploration (SPACE) Leadership Act was introduced March 22 by Sens. Krysten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Commerce Committee’s space subcommittee.
The bill would extend the learning period, which restricts the ability of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST) to enact regulations for the safety of occupants on commercial spacecraft, by five years. That learning period, put into place in late 2004, was originally set to last eight years but has been extended several times, and currently runs to early May.
However, the bill would also instruct industry to develop voluntary industry consensus standards for occupant safety during that period. That effort would support an aerospace rulemaking committee, or SpARC, set up by the FAA, to guide the development of regulations to be enacted after the learning period expires.
“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,” Schmitt said in a statement. “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.”
Industry officials, including those involved in commercial human spaceflight, said they supported the bill. “This bill’s emphasis on sustained collaboration will ensure that the Office of Commercial Space Transportation benefits from the experience…
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