Sec. 205. Advanced spacesuit capabilities
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/bill/119/hr/7273/ih/section-205·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: Space suits and associated extravehicular activity
(EVA)technologies are critical exploration technologies that are necessary for crewed missions to low-Earth orbit and future human deep space exploration efforts, including to the lunar vicinity and surface of the Moon. The NASA civil service workforce at the Johnson Space Center provides unique capabilities to design, integrate, and validate Space Suits and associated EVA technologies. Maintaining a strong NASA core competency in the design, development, manufacture, and operation of space suits and related technologies allows NASA to be an informed purchaser of competitively awarded commercial space suits and subcomponents. According to a 2018 NASA Office of Inspector General
(OIG)report, current EVAs space suits, the Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), were developed in the late 1970s, are reaching the end of their useful life, have experienced multiple maintenance issues that threaten astronaut lives, and no longer accommodate the varying sizes of a diverse astronaut corps. The same NASA OIG report found that manufacturers of several critical suit components, including the very fibers of the suits, have now gone out of business , which further reinforces the importance of NASA’s role in maintaining a space suit core competency and limiting the risk posed by outsourcing key national capabilities. The private sector currently is developing space suit capabilities. Testing space suits and related technologies on the ISS could reduce risk and improve safety of such suits and technologies. The Administrator shall obtain advanced spacesuit capabilities necessary to achieve the goals of NASA’s human spaceflight exploration programs. Any commercial provider from which the Administrator obtains advanced spaceflight capabilities must be a United States commercial provider, as set forth in section 203(c) of this Act. In carrying out subsection (b), NASA shall maintain the internal expertise necessary to develop space suits for both extravehicular activity and surface operations, including through partnerships with the private sector. The Johnson Space Center shall continue to manage NASA’s spacesuit and extravehicular activity programs. Not later than 180 days from the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report— describing NASA’s plans for— in-space testing of advanced spacesuit capabilities, including— space suit tests which must be conducted in microgravity in low-Earth orbit; and space suit tests that must be conducted on the ISS before decommissioning of the ISS; transitioning from existing spacesuits in use on the ISS to use of advanced spacesuit capabilities; future use of advanced spacesuit capabilities by government astronauts with any nongovernmental platform in low-Earth orbit that is certified for use by the Administration for government astronauts (as such term is defined in section 50902(4) of title 51, United States Code); and disposition of retired spacesuits used on the Space Shuttle or the ISS; and including— a detailed justification of compliance with section 30301 of title 51, United States Code; and a detailed certification and justification of compliance with section 50503 of title 51, United States Code. No later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall enter into an arrangement with an independent science and technical engineering organization to review the technical status and performance of the Administration’s existing extravehicular mobility units ( EMUs ), to analyze the data associated with all mishaps, anomalies, and off-nominal events related to the EMUs used by government astronauts on the ISS over the last 10 years, and to make recommendations to the Administrator, based on the results of such assessment. The Administrator shall ensure that the entity carrying out the assessment in paragraph
(1)consults with relevant industry contractors regarding the Administration’s EMUs and EMU capabilities, and coordinates with the NASA Astronaut Office in carrying out such assessment. The Administrator shall transmit the results of the assessment in paragraph
(1)to the appropriate committees of Congress as soon as practicable and no later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act.