spacetoday.net: House passes commercial space bill

Posted: Fri, May 22, 2015, 9:36 AM ET (1336 GMT)
US Capitol

The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday containing a number of commercial space policy provisions. The House approved the SPACE Act on a 284-133 vote after a two-hour floor debate Thursday morning. The act extends third-party launch indemnification and the "learning period" restricting safety regulations for people on commercial spacecraft through 2025, and includes a number of other provisions related to launch, space resource utilization, commercial remote sensing, and the Office of Space Commercialization. Some Democrats opposed the bill, citing a lack of hearings and concerns about its provisions. The House rejected an amendment that would have replaced the bill with the text of a similar bill in the Senate which offered a shorter extension of the learning period and launch indemnification.