HR21: Commending the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

HR21ER
HR21

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 21 Commending the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 5, 2010

WHEREAS, Governor Robert F. McDonnell stated in his first State of the Commonwealth address that his goal is to make the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport ?the top commercial Spaceport in America? as a part of the Commonwealth of Opportunity; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia legislature has adopted specific policies and budget measures over the past years to enable the FAA-licensed commercial spaceport on Wallops Island to flourish and attract the commercial space launch firm Orbital Sciences Corporation to loft payloads into orbit and to the moon, using the Minotaur I, Minotaur V, and the Taurus 2 space launch vehicles, bringing billions of dollars of new space-related investment and hundreds of new aerospace jobs to the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, bolstering the commercial space launch industry within the United States, the proposed FY 2011 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) budget supports the goal of making the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) ?the top commercial Spaceport in America? over the next decade; and

WHEREAS, the votes of the Virginia Congressional Delegation in the United States Congress may become pivotal in the making of the new NASA commercial space flight policies proposed in the federal FY 2011 NASA budget offered by President Barack Obama a reality; and

WHEREAS, Orbital Sciences Corporation has wholeheartedly embraced the proposed FY 2011 NASA budget proposal, with Orbital's CEO and Chairman David W. Thompson indicating ?As a commercial partner to the space agency for over 25 years, Orbital is very excited about this new course for America's civil space program?; and

WHEREAS, the global commercial space market is now a $250 billion per year industry with the United States having fallen from first in commercial space launch to fourth behind Russia, the European Space Agency, and Ukraine and faces the danger of falling further behind as China and India bring cost-effective commercial space launch systems online; and

WHEREAS, it is recognized that the nation that is the world's leader in commercial space will capture the lion's share of new jobs in the future with Virginia now well-positioned to provide commercial space launch services from launch facilities on Wallops Island; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport hereby be commended for fostering greater development of commercial space launch services and particularly for supporting fiscal policies that serve to enable the MARS to maximize its commercial space launch potential; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare copies of this resolution to be presented to Charles Bolden, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, each member of the Virginia Congressional Delegation, and the executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority.

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 21 Offered February 25, 2010 Commending the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. ---------- Patron-- Kilgore ----------

WHEREAS, Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell stated in his first State of the Commonwealth address that his goal is to make the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport ?the top commercial Spaceport in America? as a part of the Commonwealth of Opportunity; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia legislature has adopted specific policies and budget measures over the past years to enable the FAA-licensed commercial spaceport on Wallops Island to flourish and attract the commercial space launch firm Orbital Sciences Corporation to loft payloads into orbit and to the moon using the Minotaur I, Minotaur V, and the Taurus 2 space launch vehicles, bringing billions of dollars of new space-related investment and hundreds of new aerospace jobs to the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Congressional Delegation in the United States Congress may become pivotal votes in the making of the new NASA commercial space flight policies proposed in the federal FY 2011 NASA budget offered by President Barack Obama a reality; and

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport hereby be commended for fostering greater development of commercial space launch services and particularly supporting fiscal policies that serve to enable the MARS to maximize its commercial space launch potential; and, be it

Explanation

For a plain English description of this bill, comments, voting, tagging, etc., return to the main page for HR21.

This is the actual text of the bill—the legislation itself. Generally this is amending existing law, proposing the addition or removal of words from laws that are already on the books, but sometimes it’s proposing an entirely new law.

Words that are highlighted in yellow are proposed additions to the existing law, and words that are ~~crossed out in red~~ are proposed to be removed from the existing law.

The numbers with the § symbol before them are references to existing laws, and if you click on them they’ll take you to that part of the law on the state’s website.