US Congress Passes FAA Reauthorization Bill with Key Extensions for Commercial Spaceflight

The US Congress has passed a reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that includes a critical extension of current restrictions on the agency’s ability to regulate the safety of commercial spaceflight occupants.

The extension, which prolongs the so-called “learning period,” will now run through the end of the year.

The House of Representatives approved H.R. 3935, the FAA reauthorization bill, with an overwhelming majority of 387 to 26 on May 15. This follows the Senate’s approval of the bill on May 9, with a similarly decisive vote of 88 to 4.

While the primary focus of the bill is on aviation operations, it includes several important provisions related to spaceflight.

Central among these is the extension of the learning period, which restricts the FAA’s authority to implement regulations concerning the safety of occupants in commercial spacecraft. Initially set to expire this month, the period is now extended until January 1, 2025.

The learning period was originally enacted as part of a commercial space bill in 2004 with an eight-year lifespan.

The intention behind this period was to allow the commercial spaceflight industry sufficient time to gather flight experience, which would then inform any future regulatory framework. However, due to the slow progression in the development of commercial human spaceflight vehicles, the learning period has been extended several times.

The latest extension is notably brief, indicating that additional legislation will be required later this year to achieve the longer extension sought by many industry stakeholders.

Last November, the House Science Committee approved a commercial space bill proposing an extension of the learning period to October 2031. Meanwhile, a Senate bill introduced in March seeks a five-year extension.

In addition to the learning period extension, the FAA reauthorization bill incorporates several other provisions that indirectly affect commercial spaceflight.

One such provision mandates the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the impact of airspace congestion on commercial aviation, specifically including commercial space launch and reentry activities in its analysis.

Another key section of the bill allocates $10 million annually from 2025 through 2028 for the development of technologies aimed at better integrating space launch and reentry data into air traffic management systems. This includes systems designed to provide real-time data directly to air traffic controller displays and technologies intended to enable more dynamic management of airspace closures and reopenings based on the status of space launches and reentries.

The FAA has already been working on such integration systems, including a long-standing project known as the Space Data Integrator. This tool is intended to automate the dissemination of data from space launches and reentries to air traffic controllers. Despite these efforts, an FAA official indicated at an advisory committee meeting last year that full integration of launch and reentry data into air traffic management systems is not expected to be completed until 2028, primarily due to budget limitations.