One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage in Space Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3766 To require any Federal agency that issues licenses to conduct activities in outer space to include in the requirements for such licenses an agree- ment relating to the preservation and protection of the Apollo 11 landing site, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 16, 2019 Ms. JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. LUCAS, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma, and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addi- tion to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require any Federal agency that issues licenses to conduct activities in outer space to include in the requirements for such licenses an agreement relating to the preserva- tion and protection of the Apollo 11 landing site, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘One Small Step to 4 Protect Human Heritage in Space Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Jul 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3766.IH H3766 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3766 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 2 ings: 3 (1) On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft 4 launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center 5 carrying Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. ‘‘Buzz’’ 6 Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins. 7 (2) July 20, 2019, will mark the 50th anniver- 8 sary of the date on which the Apollo 11 spacecraft 9 landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong and Buzz 10 Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on a ce- 11 lestial body off the Earth. 12 (3) The landing of the Apollo 11 spacecraft and 13 humanity’s first off-world footprints are achieve- 14 ments unparalleled in history, a direct product of the 15 work and perseverance of the more than 400,000 in- 16 dividuals who contributed to the development of the 17 Apollo missions on the shoulders of centuries of 18 science and engineering pioneers from all corners of 19 the world. 20 (4) Among the thousands of individuals who 21 have contributed to the achievements of the National 22 Aeronautics and Space Administration (in this sec- 23 tion referred to as ‘‘NASA’’) are African-American 24 women such as Katherine Johnson, Dorothy 25 Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Dr. Christine Darden, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Jul 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3766.IH H3766 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3766 IH who made critical contributions to NASA space pro- 1 grams. Katherine Johnson worked at NASA for 35 2 years and calculated the trajectory of the Apollo 11 3 landing and the trajectories for the spaceflights of 4 astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn. Katherine 5 Johnson, together with many other individuals the 6 work of whom often went unacknowledged, helped 7 broaden the scope of space travel and charted new 8 frontiers for humanity’s exploration of space. 9 (5) The landing of the Apollo 11 spacecraft was 10 made on behalf of all humankind, and Neil Arm- 11 strong and Buzz Aldrin were accompanied by mes- 12 sages of peace from the leaders of more than 70 13 countries. 14 (6) The lunar landing sites of the Apollo 11 15 spacecraft, the robotic spacecraft that preceded the 16 Apollo 11 mission, and the crewed and robotic 17 spacecraft that followed, are of outstanding uni- 18 versal value to humanity. 19 (7) Such landing sites— 20 (A) are the first archaeological sites with 21 human activity that are not on Earth; 22 (B) provide evidence of the first achieve- 23 ments of humankind in the realm of space trav- 24 el and exploration; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Jul 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3766.IH H3766 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3766 IH (C) contain artifacts and other evidence of 1 human exploration activities that remain a po- 2 tential source of cultural, historical, archae- 3 ological, anthropological, scientific, and engi- 4 neering knowledge. 5 (8) As commercial enterprises and more coun- 6 tries acquire the ability to land on the Moon, it is 7 necessary to ensure the recognition and protection of 8 the Apollo 11 landing site and other historic landing 9 sites together with all the human effort and innova- 10 tion the sites represent. 11 (9) On July 20, 2011, NASA published the vol- 12 untary guidance entitled ‘‘NASA’s Recommendations 13 to Space-Faring Entities: How to Protect and Pre- 14 serve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Gov- 15 ernment Lunar Artifacts’’. 16 (10) In March 2018, the Office of Science and 17 Technology Policy published a report entitled ‘‘Pro- 18 tecting & Preserving Apollo Program Lunar Landing 19 Sites & Artifacts’’. 20 (11) The Apollo 11 landing site and other simi- 21 lar historic landing sites in outer space merit legal 22 protection from inadvertent or intentional inter- 23 ference with such sites or the environment sur- 24 rounding such sites in order to prevent irremediable 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Jul 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3766.IH H3766 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3766 IH loss of archaeological, anthropological, historical, sci- 1 entific, and engineering significance and value. 2 (12) Space-faring entities based outside the 3 United States have the capacity to land on the 4 Moon. 5 (13) The licensing requirements under this Act 6 are applicable only to United States-based activities 7 in outer space and therefore have limited efficacy for 8 protecting against intentional or inadvertent disturb- 9 ances of the Apollo 11 landing site and other similar 10 historic sites from space-faring entities based outside 11 the United States. 12 (14) A binding international agreement to pro- 13 tect the Apollo 11 landing site and other similar his- 14 toric sites by requiring adherence to the rec- 15 ommendations described in section 3(b) would be 16 sufficient to protect against intentional or inad- 17 vertent disturbances of the Apollo 11 landing site 18 and other similar historic sites. 19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 20 gress that the President should initiate a diplomatic initia- 21 tive to negotiate an international agreement described in 22 subsection (a)(14). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Jul 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3766.IH H3766 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3766 IH SEC. 3. LICENSING REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING PRESER- 1 VATION OF HISTORIC LUNAR LANDING SITES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 90 days 3 after the date of the enactment of this Act, any Federal 4 agency that issues a license to conduct an activity in outer 5 space shall require each applicant for such a license— 6 (1) to agree to abide by the recommendations 7 described in subsection (b); or 8 (2) in the case of an activity that requires a li- 9 cense from more than one Federal agency, to certify 10 (as described in paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable, 11 of section 1746 of title 28, United States Code) that 12 the applicant has submitted an application for a li- 13 cense for such activity to another Federal agency 14 that satisfies paragraph (1). 15 (b) RECOMMENDATIONS DESCRIBED.—The rec- 16 ommendations described in this subsection are— 17 (1) ‘‘NASA’s Recommendations to Space- 18 Faring Entities: How to Protect and Preserve the 19 Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Government 20 Lunar Artifacts’’ issued by the National Aeronautics 21 and Space Administration on July 20, 2011; 22 (2) the updates to ‘‘NASA’s Recommendations 23 to Space-Faring Entities: How to Protect and Pre- 24 serve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Gov- 25 ernment Lunar Artifacts’’ issued by the National 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Jul 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3766.IH H3766 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3766 IH Aeronautics and Space Administration on October 1 28, 2011; and 2 (3) any successor heritage preservation rec- 3 ommendations, guidelines, or principles relating to 4 the protection and preservation of Government lunar 5 artifacts issued by the National Aeronautics and 6 Space Administration. 7 (c) EXEMPTIONS.—A Federal agency issuing a li- 8 cense described in subsection (a) may, in consultation with 9 the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 10 Administration, exempt specific activities of an applicant 11 from the historic preservation agreement or certification 12 under subsection (a) if such bona fide activities are deter- 13 mined to have legitimate and significant historical, archeo- 14 logical, anthropological, scientific, or engineering value. 15 (d) AUTHORITY TO ASSESS PENALTY FEES.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Federal agency issuing a 17 license described in subsection (a) may assess a pen- 18 alty fee on the holder of such license for conduct 19 that violates one or more of terms of the license re- 20 lating to the agreement under subsection (a)(1). 21 (2) AMOUNT.—The penalty fee amount as- 22 sessed under paragraph (1) shall be— 23 (A) commensurate with the nature and ex- 24 tent of the violation; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Jul 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3766.IH H3766 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3766 IH (B) sufficient to deter future violations. 1 (e) ACTIVITY DEFINED.—In this section, the term 2 ‘‘activity’’ means an action or endeavor in outer space 3 that— 4 (1) is intended to be lunar in nature, including 5 lunar orbit, landing, and impact; or 6 (2) has a greater likelihood than not of becom- 7 ing lunar in nature, including unintentional orbit 8 and impact. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Jul 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3766.IH H3766 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS