[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8198 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8198
To amend title 51, United States Code, to advance American space
operations, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 6, 2026
Mr. Fong introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 51, United States Code, to advance American space
operations, 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 ``Optimizing United States Technology
to Preempt Adversarial Communist Expansion in Space Act'' or the
``OUTPACE in Space Act''.
SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING LAUNCH AND REENTRY.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the commercial space transportation industry and the
emerging hypersonic industry will remain a critical component
of the competitiveness of the United States;
(2) to support the growth of the industries described in
paragraph (1), the Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration should ensure that such industries have access
to the national airspace while maintaining aviation safety; and
(3) the Administrator should continue to ensure public
health and safety, and improve airspace management access for
commercial space and hypersonics users.
(b) FAA Briefing Requirement.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal
Aviation Administration, in collaboration with the Secretary of
Defense and other relevant department heads, shall brief
Congress on--
(A) plans to meet the growing airspace needs of
commercial space and hypersonics;
(B) plans to maintain current and future air
traffic operations in the national airspace system
while meeting the needs described in subparagraph (A);
and
(C) a process for implementing section 630 of the
FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (Public Law 118-63).
(2) Resource needs.--The Administrator shall estimate the
resources needed to accomplish the goals described in paragraph
(1) and identify any legislative barriers or recommendations to
ensure sufficient airspace access for commercial space and
hypersonics.
(c) Space Vehicle Reentry.--
(1) Conditional expected casualty.--
(A) Waiver.--Upon enactment of this Act, the
Administrator shall issue a blanket waiver of
450.101(c) for all reentry vehicles until a final rule
is published as described in subparagraph (D).
(B) Advance notice of rulemaking.--Not later than 3
months after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Administrator shall issue advanced notice of a proposed
rulemaking to amend sections 450.101, 450.108, and
450.135 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, to
ensure that, with respect to conditional expected
casualty for reentry vehicles, risk considerations
support the development and authorization of overland
launch and reentry operations.
(C) Proposed rule.--Not later than 6 months after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator
shall issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, as
described in subparagraph (B).
(D) Final rule.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall
issue a final rule based on the proposed rule issued
under subparagraph (C).
(2) Regulatory updates.--Not later than 30 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall initiate
the process to develop or update regulations to ensure that
risk considerations support the development and authorization
of overland launch and reentry operations.
(d) High Cadence Operations.--To enable high cadence launch and
reentry operations by United States licensed companies, the Secretary
of Transportation shall, using the authority under chapter 509 of title
51, United States Code, maximize use of performance-based requirements
and issue, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this
Act, advisory circulars that provide alternative methods of compliance
that are limited by prescriptive approaches, including for the
determination of the probability of failure requirements and
regulations with preset timelines.
(e) Airspace Access.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Transportation shall
prioritize equitable and efficient integration of commercial
space operations into the national airspace system, and take
all steps to safely increase the annual cadence of domestic
commercial launches and reentries.
(2) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate a report on specific planned
actions and required resources to meaningfully increase the
ability of the national airspace system to support launch and
reentry operations, with specific detail on how many additional
launches and reentries per year such improved processes and
technologies would enable compared to current baselines.
(f) Expedited Hiring Authority.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
may appoint qualified candidates with specialized knowledge in
aerospace engineering or related fields to positions in the
Office of Commercial Space Transportation within 30 days of
identifying a such a qualified candidate without regard to
competitive service requirements, examinations, or public
notice.
(2) Briefing; public information.--
(A) Briefing.--Not later than 45 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall
provide to the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of
the Senate a briefing on the implementation of this
subsection.
(B) Public information.--Administrator shall
maintain on the website of the Office of Commercial
Space Transportation the following information:
(i) How long vacancies for positions
described in paragraph (1) have been pending.
(ii) How many vacancies at the Office of
Commercial Space Transportation have been
addressed using the authority under such
paragraph (1).
SEC. 3. RESEARCH SECURITY.
(a) Research Security.--Neither the Secretary of Commerce nor the
Secretary of Transportation may carry out any research or a development
initiative related to commercial space activities with any entity of
concern, a foreign business entity, or a foreign country of concern.
(b) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Entity of concern.--The term ``entity of concern'' has
the meaning given such term in section 10114 of the Research
and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C.
18912).
(2) Foreign business entity.--The term ``foreign business
entity'' means an entity that is--
(A) organized under, or otherwise subject to, the
laws of a foreign country of concern;
(B) a governmental organization of a foreign
country of concern; or
(C) owned or controlled (as such term is defined in
section 800.208 of title 31, Code of Federal
Regulations, or a successor regulation) by--
(i) any governmental organization of a
foreign country of concern; or
(ii) any other entity that is organized
under, or otherwise subject to, the laws of a
foreign country of concern.
(3) Foreign country of concern.--The term ``foreign country
of concern'' has the meaning given such term in section 9901 of
title XCIX of division H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15
U.S.C. 4651).
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