[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1694 Engrossed in Senate (ES)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1694

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
  To require any Federal agency that issues licenses to conduct lunar 
    activities to include in the requirements for such licenses an 
agreement relating to the preservation and protection of the Apollo 11 
                 landing site, and for other purposes.

    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 ``One Small Step to Protect Human 
Heritage in Space Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft launched 
        from the John F. Kennedy Space Center carrying Neil A. 
        Armstrong, Edwin E. ``Buzz'' Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins.
            (2) July 20, 2019, will mark the 50th anniversary of the 
        date on which the Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on the Moon and 
        Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set 
        foot on a celestial body off the Earth.
            (3) The landing of the Apollo 11 spacecraft and humanity's 
        first off-world footprints are achievements unparalleled in 
        history, a direct product of the work and perseverance of the 
        more than 400,000 individuals who contributed to the 
        development of the Apollo missions on the shoulders of 
        centuries of science and engineering pioneers from all corners 
        of the world.
            (4) Among the thousands of individuals who have contributed 
        to the achievements of the National Aeronautics and Space 
        Administration (in this section referred to as ``NASA'') are 
        African-American women such as Katherine Johnson, Dorothy 
        Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Dr. Christine Darden, who made 
        critical contributions to NASA space programs. Katherine 
        Johnson worked at NASA for 35 years and calculated the 
        trajectory of the Apollo 11 landing and the trajectories for 
        the spaceflights of astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn. 
        Katherine Johnson, together with many other individuals the 
        work of whom often went unacknowledged, helped broaden the 
        scope of space travel and charted new frontiers for humanity's 
        exploration of space.
            (5) The landing of the Apollo 11 spacecraft was made on 
        behalf of all humankind, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin 
        were accompanied by messages of peace from the leaders of more 
        than 70 countries.
            (6) The lunar landing sites of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, 
        the robotic spacecraft that preceded the Apollo 11 mission, and 
        the crewed and robotic spacecraft that followed, are of 
        outstanding universal value to humanity.
            (7) Such landing sites--
                    (A) are the first archaeological sites with human 
                activity that are not on Earth;
                    (B) provide evidence of the first achievements of 
                humankind in the realm of space travel and exploration; 
                and
                    (C) contain artifacts and other evidence of human 
                exploration activities that remain a potential source 
                of cultural, historical, archaeological, 
                anthropological, scientific, and engineering knowledge.
            (8) On July 20, 2011, NASA published the voluntary guidance 
        entitled ``NASA's Recommendations to Space-Faring Entities: How 
        to Protect and Preserve the Historic and Scientific Value of 
        U.S. Government Lunar Artifacts''.
            (9) In March 2018, the Office of Science and Technology 
        Policy published a report entitled ``Protecting & Preserving 
        Apollo Program Lunar Landing Sites & Artifacts''.
            (10) Space-faring entities based outside the United States 
        have the capacity to land on the Moon.
            (11) The licensing requirements under this Act are 
        applicable only to United States-based lunar activities and 
        therefore have limited efficacy for protecting the Apollo 11 
        landing site, other similar historic sites, and lunar artifacts 
        from disturbances caused by space-faring entities based outside 
        the United States.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) as commercial enterprises and more countries acquire 
        the ability to land on the Moon, it is necessary to ensure the 
        recognition and protection of the Apollo 11 landing site and 
        other historic landing sites in acknowledgment of the human 
        effort and innovation the sites represent;
            (2) the Apollo 11 landing site, other similar historic 
        landing sites, lunar artifacts, and the environment surrounding 
        such sites and artifacts merit legal protection from 
        disturbance to prevent irremediable loss of sites and artifacts 
        that are of archeological, anthropological, historical, 
        scientific, and engineering significance and value; and
            (3) the President should work with other countries to 
        develop best practices to ensure the protection of historic 
        lunar landing sites and artifacts.

SEC. 3. LICENSING REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING PRESERVATION OF HISTORIC 
              LUNAR LANDING SITES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, any Federal agency that issues a license to 
conduct a lunar activity shall require each applicant for such a 
license--
            (1) to agree to abide by the recommendations described in 
        subsection (b); or
            (2) in the case of a lunar activity that requires a license 
        from more than one Federal agency, to certify under penalty of 
        perjury as provided in paragraph (1) or (2), as applicable, of 
        section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, that the 
        applicant has submitted an application for a license for such 
        activity to another Federal agency that satisfies paragraph 
        (1).
    (b) Recommendations Described.--The recommendations described in 
this subsection are--
            (1) ``NASA's Recommendations to Space-Faring Entities: How 
        to Protect and Preserve the Historic and Scientific Value of 
        U.S. Government Lunar Artifacts'' issued by the National 
        Aeronautics and Space Administration on July 20, 2011, and 
        updated on October 28, 2011; and
            (2) any successor heritage preservation recommendations, 
        guidelines, or principles relating to the protection and 
        preservation of Government lunar artifacts issued by the 
        National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
    (c) Exemptions.--A Federal agency issuing a license described in 
subsection (a) may, in consultation with the Administrator of the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, exempt specific lunar 
activities of an applicant from the historic preservation agreement or 
certification under subsection (a) if such bona fide activities are 
determined to have legitimate and significant historical, 
archeological, anthropological, scientific, or engineering value.
    (d) Authority to Assess Penalty Fees.--
            (1) In general.--A Federal agency issuing a license 
        described in subsection (a) may assess a penalty fee on the 
        holder of such license for conduct that violates one or more 
        terms of the license relating to the agreement under subsection 
        (a)(1).
            (2) Amount.--The penalty fee amount assessed under 
        paragraph (1) shall be--
                    (A) commensurate with the nature and extent of the 
                violation; and
                    (B) sufficient to deter future violations.
    (e) Lunar Activity Defined.--In this section, the term ``lunar 
activity'' means an action or endeavor in space that--
            (1) is intended to be lunar in nature, including lunar 
        orbit, landing, and impact; or
            (2) has a greater likelihood than not of becoming lunar in 
        nature, including unintentional orbit and impact.

            Passed the Senate July 18, 2019.

            Attest:

                                                             Secretary.
116th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                                S. 1694

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

  To require any Federal agency that issues licenses to conduct lunar 
    activities to include in the requirements for such licenses an 
agreement relating to the preservation and protection of the Apollo 11 
                 landing site, and for other purposes.