[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 912 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 912


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 4, 2004

    Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space 
   Administration to establish an awards program in honor of Charles 
  ``Pete'' Conrad, astronaut and space scientist, for recognizing the 
 discoveries made by amateur astronomers of asteroids with near-Earth 
                          orbit trajectories.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Charles `Pete' Conrad Astronomy 
Awards Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act--
            (1) the term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of 
        the National Aeronautics and Space Administration;
            (2) the term ``amateur astronomer'' means an individual 
        whose employer does not provide any funding, payment, or 
        compensation to the individual for the observation of asteroids 
        and other celestial bodies, and does not include any individual 
        employed as a professional astronomer;
            (3) the term ``Minor Planet Center'' means the Minor Planet 
        Center of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory;
            (4) the term ``near-Earth asteroid'' means an asteroid with 
        a perihelion distance of less than 1.3 Astronomical Units from 
        the Sun; and
            (5) the term ``Program'' means the Charles ``Pete'' Conrad 
        Astronomy Awards Program established under section 3.

SEC. 3. PETE CONRAD ASTRONOMY AWARD PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator shall establish the Charles 
``Pete'' Conrad Astronomy Awards Program.
    (b) Awards.--The Administrator shall make awards under the Program 
based on the recommendations of the Minor Planet Center.
    (c) Award Categories.--The Administrator shall make one annual 
award, unless there are no eligible discoveries or contributions, for 
each of the following categories:
            (1) The amateur astronomer or group of amateur astronomers 
        who in the preceding calendar year discovered the intrinsically 
        brightest near-Earth asteroid among the near-Earth asteroids 
        that were discovered during that year by amateur astronomers or 
        groups of amateur astronomers.
            (2) The amateur astronomer or group of amateur astronomers 
        who made the greatest contribution to the Minor Planet Center's 
        mission of cataloguing near-Earth asteroids during the 
        preceding year.
    (d) Award Amount.--An award under the Program shall be in the 
amount of $3,000.
    (e) Guidelines.--(1) No individual who is not a citizen or 
permanent resident of the United States at the time of his discovery or 
contribution may receive an award under this Act.
    (2) The decisions of the Administrator in making awards under this 
Act are final.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--From sums otherwise 
authorized to be appropriated, there are authorized to be appropriated 
such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.

            Passed the House of Representatives March 3, 2004.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.