II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 582
To provide for the authorized use of Federal vehicle transportation by certain
astronauts.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. C
RUZ(for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
A BILL
To provide for the authorized use of Federal vehicle
transportation by certain astronauts.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Astronaut Ground 4
Travel Support Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PASSENGER CARRIER USE FOR ASTRONAUT TRANS-6
PORTATION. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 201 of 8
title 51, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 9
end the following: 10
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‘‘§ 20150. Passenger carrier use for astronaut trans-1
portation 2
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
‘‘(1) G
OVERNMENT ASTRONAUT ; INTER-4
NATIONAL PARTNER ASTRONAUT ; SPACE FLIGHT 5
PARTICIPANT; SPACE SUPPORT VEHICLE .—The 6
terms ‘government astronaut’, ‘international partner 7
astronaut’, ‘space flight participant’, and ‘space sup-8
port vehicle’ have the meanings given such terms in 9
section 50902. 10
‘‘(2) M
ISSION.—The term ‘mission’ means an 11
assignment to a space support vehicle of one or 12
more— 13
‘‘(A) government astronauts in the course 14
of their employment; or 15
‘‘(B) space flight participants. 16
‘‘(3) O
FFICIAL PURPOSE.—With respect to 17
transportation, the term ‘official purpose’ means 18
transportation necessary for post-mission activities, 19
including medical research, monitoring, diagnosis, 20
and treatment of a government astronaut or space 21
flight participant before receiving post-mission med-22
ical clearance to operate a motor vehicle. 23
‘‘(4) P
ASSENGER CARRIER .—The term ‘pas-24
senger carrier’ means a passenger motor vehicle, air-25
craft, boat, vessel, or other similar means of trans-26
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portation that is owned or leased by the United 1
States Government. 2
‘‘(b) A
UTHORITY.— 3
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator may au-4
thorize the use of a passenger carrier to transport 5
a government astronaut or space flight participant 6
between the residence of the individual and various 7
locations if— 8
‘‘(A) such transportation is provided for an 9
official purpose; and 10
‘‘(B) the Chief of the Astronaut Office has 11
approved, in writing, post-mission transpor-12
tation of government astronauts and space 13
flight participants under this section. 14
‘‘(2) M
AINTENANCE, OPERATION, AND RE-15
PAIR.—The Administrator may maintain, operate, 16
and repair one or more passenger carriers for the 17
purpose of providing transportation pursuant to the 18
authority provided in paragraph (1). 19
‘‘(c) R
EIMBURSEMENT.—Transportation under sub-20
section (b)(1) of an international partner astronaut or a 21
space flight participant who is not an employee of the 22
United States Government shall be subject to reimburse-23
ment to the Treasury. 24
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‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall pro-1
mulgate such regulations as are necessary to carry out this 2
section. 3
‘‘(e) A
PPLICABILITY OFSECTION1344 OFTITLE 4
31.—In carrying out subsection (b), the Administrator 5
may expend funds available to the Administration, by ap-6
propriation or otherwise, notwithstanding section 1344(a) 7
of title 31.’’. 8
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 9
for chapter 201 of title 51, United States Code, is amend-10
ed by inserting after the item relating to section 20149 11
the following: 12
‘‘20150. Passenger carrier use for astronaut transportation.’’.
Æ
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