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Private Spaceflight Law Shot Down
wiggles writes "MSNBC says that bill HR3752, which allows private, suborbital tourist flights, has died. We'll have to wait until next year for this one. According to the article, 'The bill would have put private-sector suborbital spaceflights on much firmer regulatory footing. It was approved overwhelmingly by the House back in March but languished in the Senate for months.'"
If I'm President Vicente Fox, I've got dollar signs in my eyes right now.
Take a trip to Mazetlan, see the beautiful sights, enjoy some tequilla, and then fly into outer space as the highlight of your vacation!
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Unless the public gets all in an uproar about this, I don't see this as happening. It could potential interfere with the US military's superiority in this field, and what the Pentagon wants, it gets. They have far, far, FAR more money available in their PR budget than private entrepreneurs (either individually or collectively) ever will, and the result will most likely be determined accordingly.
I would really like to see the private space industry open up. Hopefully the bill that does get passed isn't too restrictive for new private companies looking into the space industry. Governments should do what they can to promote private sector growth in the space industry, not stifle it. New startups in the space industry could spark a whole new economic boom, and if not an economic boom, at least the start of a new revolution. Call me optimistic, but these are simply my views.
among other countries. Brazil would love to add world's only commercial spaceport to its list of national trophies/tourist attractions. So would Malaysia. So would a ton of other countries. If we don't get this approved, we'll see a lot of tech and cash go elsewhere.
"Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
Since when was space the 51st state? And if so, since when has there been a state that I can't go to as a citizen?
If I was looking to make money off of this, I'd go to Canada or Mexico, start sending people out into space, and make millions while the whole thing gets fought out in court, generating millions of dollars worth of free advertising. I'd probably end up selling the company before a decision ever comes around, and go live in Costa Rica.
What's the US gonna do, shoot down passenger space craft just because congress can't get a bill through? Talk about a PR nightmare!
My understand was that this bill was the beginings of regulating the private space industry. Personally, I see absolutely no loss if that is the case. I would rather leave the field upon and relativly unregulated other then getting a permit to go up until we have a better understanding as to how the industry is shaping up. Let the leaders take the risks and get out in front. If they want to throw their lives away, let that be their choice. The only time the government should step in, is to ensure that public safety is not in danger.
Is this suggesting that the government would be prohibited from being compensated, or that private industry would be prohibited from being compensated. If that latter, then ...?
In short, although I initially supported this bill (i.e., before I actually read any of it), now I'm not so sure...
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
"The FAA could not administer safety regulations unless someone is killed on one of these flights, until 2012. A provision like that in itself, we believe, requires a more serious explanation than what we've received so far," [congressional panel mouthpiece Steve] Hansen said.
What more of an explanation do they need than this: Space is hard. People will die exploring and exploiting space. They'll know what they're getting into before they close the hatch, and will agree to take that chance.
That pretty much takes care of it to my satisfaction. What more does Congress want?
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Laws do not allow people to do things, laws prevent people from doing things.
There are no laws preventing commercial space flight. This was an attempt to regulate it and therefore restrict commercial space flight. This bill failing is a good thing for privite space missions. It would have been bad had it passed.
When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
Throughout the whole spaceship one story, I've been constantly thinking about Free Space.
The government doesn't want private spaceflight because all the people would just as soon leave the planet to escape taxation. I know I would.
Great! I hope they move it lock stock and barrel out of the United States to some nation that has some vision and some nads. Like Brazil perhaps. I also hope that software production gets moved to places without IP patents. I hope this gets raked through the news up and down sideways to show the US people what complete ridiculous incompetent morons they have that they keep voting for,cycle after cycle as they get brainwashed into "not wasting their votes" and what has really happened to the government. The US federal government is primarily concerned with imperialist warfare, protecting the profits of entrenched monopolies and the 1% uber millionaire/billionaire class, and perpetuating and expanding their own bloated governmental bureaucracy. The more they do things like this, the quicker we might see honest constructive change, even if it gets ugly for awhile.
manifold: time called. it said just launch while pretending to do 'tests'
-You're wasting your time. Alfador only likes me.
If any of you vote in Minnesota, you may want to call up Jim Oberstar (D-Minn) and voice your concerns...
From here:
The Republican leadership tried to push the bill through by suspending the chamber's rules through a voice vote, but Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn. -- who voiced firm opposition to the bill on safety grounds -- called for a yea-and-nay breakdown and noted that a quorum was not present. That stymied the GOP's procedural maneuver, and further action was postponed.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., argued during the 40-minute debate that new legislation was needed to resolve the Federal Aviation Administration's role in regulating piloted suborbital space launches, and that the FAA would be able to step in if a spacecraft was found to be unsafe for the crew or passengers. Oberstar, on the other hand, believes that the bill is too lax in that regard, and that the FAA would have to stand by until someone is killed or gravely injured.
Rohrabacher said failure to act could drive the infant suborbital space travel industry out of the country. "Don't strangle this industry and drive these entrepreneurs offshore," he pleaded.