OPINION:
The United States remains the only nation to have landed humans on the Moon and returned them safely to Earth. It is among the greatest achievements in human history, and it has significantly contributed to America’s leadership on the world stage. As a young man I had the opportunity of working on the Apollo program as an inspector with McDonnell Douglas. It was an exciting experience, and I am both grateful and humbled to have been a part of it.
The success of the Apollo Missions led to other significant accomplishments like building reusable Space Shuttles to test the limits of human space flight, prolonged robotic exploration of Mars, deploying a space-based telescope that can see far beyond our solar system, and conducting scientific research on the International Space Station. In more recent years we’ve seen an explosion in commercial space activity which has culminated in private companies conducting successful human space launches. This too is a significant milestone.
Our investment in space is critical to our national security, scientific discovery, technological advancement, and economic competitiveness. So much of our modern-day life is dependent on space making a bank transaction, for example, or even a phone call, these days requires using some type of space-faring technology. And while NASA’s leadership of our space efforts will continue to be indispensable, the U.S. commercial space industry’s role in space exploration will grow larger and more critical. American companies must continue to lead the way.
During the 1980’s, the United States had nearly 100% of the launch market. Gradually more nations entered the space race, and while our competitors were courting new business and subsidizing launches from their facilities, the United States overregulated its market making it more costly and cumbersome to do launches. One CEO complained to me he couldn’t get in to view the launch of his company’s multi-million-dollar payload. By 2010, the U.S. had conducted just 20% of the world’s 76 launches.
To help regain our foothold, in 2015, Congress passed into law the bipartisan U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act which created a legal framework for allowing commercial space companies to experiment with space launch activities and designated an 8-year learning period to help get the industry off the ground. I was pleased to work on this bipartisan legislation with, among others, now-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senator Ted Cruz, Representative Brian Babin, and current House Science Committee Chairman Frank Lucas.
Specifically, our legislation streamlined the regulatory process to eliminate unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy impeding the development of the commercial space sector to make U.S. space companies, and our launch market, more competitive. The bill also included my bipartisan, bicameral proposal to provide legal protections for American space companies that develop and obtain resources from space. Rare minerals necessary to modern technology such as nickel, iron, cobalt, and platinum group metals, can be found within celestial bodies.
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Our commercial space bill has been incredibly successful as the United States has been capturing back much of the launch market it lost. Last year the U.S. took the lead and conducted 42% of the world’s 180 launches. It’s important for Congress to reauthorize the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act and extend the learning period. This is a robust industry that has yet to reach its full potential.
Adversarial countries like China, who don’t play by the rules, are working to hollow out our commercial space industry. The 2019 Report to Congress of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission states that “China is taking steps to establish a commanding position in the commercial launch and satellite sectors relying in part on aggressive state-backed financing that foreign market driven companies cannot match.” The report further adds, “China has already succeeded in undercutting some U.S. and other foreign launch and satellite providers in the international market, threatening to hollow out these countries’ space industrial bases.” We can’t allow that to happen.
To help level the playing field, Senator Marco Rubio and I have introduced the bipartisan American Space Commerce Act to extend existing space launch tax incentives for an additional ten years for payload and launch companies that launch from the United States. By doing this our bill frees up more capital for American space companies to invest in new technology and launching future space missions from the United States.
In the short-term our investment in space is essential to the survival of our nation and the free world. One day in the future, the survival of our species may depend on our ability to leave planet Earth. It’s important we lay the groundwork for both.
• U.S. Representative Bill Posey, Florida Republican, is a senior member of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space & Technology. He also serves on the Financial Services Committee and the House Republican Study Committee. He represents Florida’s Eighth Congressional District which includes the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Patrick Space Force Base.
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