Title 51, National and Commercial Space Programs, Added to U.S. Code

The United States Code has had 50 titles since 1926.  Each title deals with a different subject matter, and as laws are passed by Congress, the various parts of the law are rearranged and placed into their proper location in the U.S. Code.  For example, see this  diagram of the Patriot Act, illustrating the various titles of the U.S. Code impacted by the Patriot Act.

The recently passed H.R. 3237 creates an additional title, Title 51, National and Commercial Space Programs.   The new Act does not change existing law, but rather transfers sections dealing with Space Programs from various U.S. Code titles and puts them in one place.  The sections were transferred from Title 15 (Commerce and Trade), Title 42 (Public Health and Welfare), and Title 49 (Transportation).  For more information see this explanation on the U.S. House of Representatives Web Page.

The new title comes at a time of increasing importance of  private industry space activity.  See Mark J. Sundahl, Space Tourism and Export Controls: A Prayer for Relief, 75 J. Air L. & Com. 581 (Summer 2010) Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1521144.

Thanks to The Goodson Blog.

Image:   Computer simulation of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Falcon-9_(cropped).jpg.