(a) Establishment.—The President shall establish an independent, nonpartisan Commission within the executive branch to investigate any incident that results in the loss of—

(1) a space shuttle;

(2) the International Space Station or its operational viability;

(3) any other orbital or suborbital space vehicle carrying humans that is—

(A) owned by the Federal Government; or

(B) being used pursuant to a contract or Space Act Agreement with the Federal Government for carrying a government astronaut or a researcher funded by the Federal Government; or


(4) a crew member or passenger of any space vehicle described in this subsection.


Terms Used In 51 USC 70702

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • vehicle: includes every description of carriage or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on land. See 1 USC 4

(b) Deadline for Establishment.—The President shall establish a Commission within 7 days after an incident specified in subsection (a).

(c) Definitions.—In this section:

(1) Government astronaut.—The term “government astronaut” has the meaning given the term in section 50902.

(2) Space act agreement.—The term “Space Act Agreement” means an agreement entered into by the Administration pursuant to its other transactions authority under section 20113(e).

  Previous section
Next section  
 Chapter 707 Contents