Congress

HR 5382 lives

It’s alive! No, it’s dead. It’s alive again! It’s dead again. Alive! Dead. Alive! Dead. Alive? The roller coaster that was HR 5382 and its predecessor, HR 3752, came to an end Wednesday night when the Senate approved the bill by unanimous consent in the final two hours of the 108th Congress. As recently as Wednesday afternoon the bill’s prospects looked poor, since a hold was apparently still in place and the Senate was making plans to adjourn that evening, after passing the intelligence reform bill and wrapping up some other business. What did happen to clear that final obstacle isn’t clear: MSNBC noted that the bill’s passage even took supporters by surprise, while an AP article doesn’t offer any significant details. The House passed the bill last month, so it goes on to the President for his anticipated signature.

While it would not have been the end of the world if the bill had died, its passage is a big step forward for commercial space, particularly suborbital space tourism. A lot of hard work went into pushing the bill forward by a lot of people, and its approval is a well-deserved reward.

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