republic-os/legal/us/code/title-51/chapter-709/section-70904.md

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LegalText	51 U.S.C. § 70904	International Space Station completion	us	united_states_code	code_section	51	NATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACE PROGRAMS	709	INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION	70904	51 U.S.C. § 70904	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc51@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t51/s70904	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-51/usc51.xml	cb671918ce7d9c0f8dd94a820e6d6d4e01b264a67e8b060d1d03aec41a8c7c8d	247760e048bc0c854023cd923eddd6011c857ad6958b62a813e0392121390bd5	059ba86d9d16cdddedb8415ff64dbe5fc1c83c1e3f72676e19f34be62061b253	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

51 U.S.C. § 70904 - International Space Station completion

Text

(a) Policy.— It is the policy of the United States to achieve diverse and growing utilization of, and benefits from, the International Space Station.

(b) Elements, Capabilities, and Configuration Criteria.— The Administrator shall ensure that the International Space Station will—

(1) be assembled and operated in a manner that fulfills international partner agreements, as long as the Administrator determines that the shuttle can safely enable the United States to do so;

(2) be used for a diverse range of microgravity research, including fundamental, applied, and commercial research, consistent with section 40904 of this title;

(3) have an ability to support a crew size of at least 6 persons, unless the Administrator transmits to the Committee on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate not later than 60 days after December 30, 2005, a report explaining why such a requirement should not be met, the impact of not meeting the requirement on the International Space Station research agenda and operations and international partner agreements, and what additional funding or other steps would be required to have an ability to support a crew size of at least 6 persons;

(4) support Crew Exploration Vehicle docking and automated docking of cargo vehicles or modules launched by either heavy-lift or commercially-developed launch vehicles;

(5) support any diagnostic human research, on-orbit characterization of molecular crystal growth, cellular research, and other research that the Administration believes is necessary to conduct, but for which the Administration lacks the capacity to return the materials that need to be analyzed to Earth; and

(6) be operated at an appropriate risk level.

(c) Contingencies.— (1) Policy.— The Administrator shall ensure that the International Space Station can have available, if needed, sufficient logistics and on-orbit capabilities to support any potential period during which the space shuttle or its follow-on crew and cargo systems are unavailable, and can have available, if needed, sufficient surge delivery capability or prepositioning of spares and other supplies needed to accommodate any such hiatus.

(2) Plan.— Before making any change in the International Space Station assembly sequence in effect on December 30, 2005, the Administrator shall transmit to the Committee on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a plan to carry out the policy described in paragraph (1).

(Pub. L. 111–314, § 3, Dec. 18, 2010, 124 Stat. 3437.)

Notes

Historical and Revision Notes RevisedSectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 7090442 U.S.C. 16765.Pub. L. 109–155, title V, § 505, Dec. 30, 2005, 119 Stat. 2929. In subsections (b)(3) and (c)(2), the words “Committee on Science and Technology” are substituted for “Committee on Science” on authority of Rule X(1)(o) of the Rules of the House of Representatives, adopted by House Resolution No. 6 (110th Congress, January 5, 2007). In subsections (b)(3) and (c)(2), the date “December 30, 2005” is substituted for “the date of enactment of this Act” to reflect the date of enactment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–155, 119 Stat. 2895). In subsection (c)(2) the words “Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act [December 30, 2005], and” are omitted as obsolete.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name Committee on Science and Technology of House of Representatives changed to Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of House of Representatives by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Jan. 5, 2011.