NASA Reauthorization Act of 2024

The requirement that NASA conduct two crewed lunar landing missions annually after the first crewed landing (former section 203(d)) was deleted entirely.

Section on human-rated lunar landing capabilities now explicitly allows inclusion of uncrewed lunar landing services and requires NASA to seek capabilities from not fewer than two commercial providers (subject to availability of appropriations).

The strict eligibility criteria for commercial providers supporting lunar exploration (requiring US headquarters, majority US ownership, 50% US components, US launch vehicles, majority US design/manufacturing) were replaced with a permissive provision allowing the Administrator to 'enter into agreements with United States commercial providers' without those specific domestic-content requirements.

Section 202 on international contributions to human exploration was deleted. This section had prohibited placing international contributions on the critical path for Mars missions after January 1, 2025 unless the Administrator determined low risk of non-performance and prepared a mitigation plan with a 30-day advance report to Congress.

Section 302 on microgravity research was deleted. It had amended 51 U.S.C. 40904 to allow NASA to use one or more microgravity platforms beyond just the ISS.

New section 310 adds a restriction on Federal funds relating to certain Chinese space and scientific activities.

New sections 309 (orbital debris research and development) and 307 (risk of losing access to low-Earth orbit) were added to the Space Operations title.

New sections 622 and 623 on wildland fire science technology development and implementation of National Wildland Fire Management Commission recommendations were added to the Science title.

New section 512 on making advancements in commercial hypersonics was added to the Aeronautics title.

New section 810 on contract flexibility and section 812 on a NASA public-private talent program were added to the Policy/NASA title.

The definition of 'commercial provider' was expanded from providing 'space services' to providing 'space services or space-related capabilities.'

The Space Launch System 'other uses' assessment was reframed from assessing 'utility' by non-NASA entities to assessing 'demand' broken out by Federal agency or nongovernment sector, with a shift from recommending actions to identifying potential actions and associated costs.