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H.R. 4158 (112th): To confirm full ownership rights for certain United States astronauts to artifacts from the astronauts’ space missions.
- Introduced:
- Mar 07, 2012 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
- Sponsor:
- Rep. Ralph Hall [R-TX4]
- Status:
- Signed by the President
- Slip Law:
- This bill became Pub.L. 112-185.
The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.
- Summary
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No summaries available.
- Text
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Last updated Jan 01, 2012.
2 pages
- Primary Source
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View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)
GovTrack gets most information from THOMAS, which is updated generally one day after events occur. Activity since the last update may not be reflected here.
- Citation
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Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
9/25/2012--Public Law. (This measure has not been amended since it was introduced.
The summary of that version is repeated here.) Grants a U.S. astronaut who participated in any of the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo programs through the completion of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and who received an artifact during his participation, full ownership of and clear title to that artifact.
Defines "artifact" as any expendable item utilized in missions for the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo programs through the completion of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project not expressly required to be returned to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the completion of the mission and other expendable, disposable, or personal-use items utilized by such an astronaut during participation in any such program, excluding lunar rocks and other lunar material.
Prohibits the federal government from having any claim or right to ownership, control, or use of:
(1) any artifact in the possession of such an astronaut; or
(2) any such artifact that was subsequently transferred, sold, or assigned to a third party by such an astronaut.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr4158.
Background
Throughout the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs (including Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project), NASA managers routinely allowed astronauts, at the conclusion of a mission, to keep mementos, pieces of hardware, and personal equipment (e.g., space suit emblems, food, hand controllers, and checklists) from the spacecraft. In some cases, these artifacts have been in the possession of an astronaut for almost forty years. Beginning in the mid-2000s, NASA began to challenge the ownership of these artifacts by Apollo-era astronauts in some cases. As a result of the actions by NASA, rightful ownership of artifacts still in the astronauts’ possession – as well as those donated to colleges and museums, transferred to family members, or privately sold – has been brought into question, exposing astronauts to possible (and significant) damages if ownership is not clearly established.
Summary
H.R. 4158 would confirm that Astronauts who flew in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, who received an artifact, momento, or hardware during his participation, should have full ownership of and clear title to the artifact. The bill would also state that the federal government has no claim or right to ownership, control, or use of any artifact in possession of an eligible astronaut, or of any artifact that was subsequently transferred, sold, or assigned to a third party.
The bill would define “artifact” as any expendable item utilized by an astronaut in missions for the Mercury, Gemini or Apollo programs, through the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, that was not expressly required to be returned to NASA at the end of the mission, and other expendable, disposable, or personal-use items used in the program. The bill states that this would include personal logs, checklists, flight manuals, prototype and proof test articles used in training, and disposable flight hardware salvaged from jettisoned lunar modules.
The bill would specifically exclude lunar rocks and material from the definition of artifacts that astronauts would be entitled to keep.
Cost
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that implementing H.R. 4158 would have no significant impact on the federal budget.
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.