PUBLIC LAW 106-391—OCT. 30, 2000 114 STAT. 1579 (i) is undertaken in a manner that is sensitive to the desire of United States commercial providers to develop or explore space commercially; (ii) is consistent with the need for Federal agencies to use space to complete their missions; and (iii) is carried out in a manner consistent with United States export control laws. (7) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense should cooperate more effectively in leveraging the mutual capabilities of these agencies to conduct joint aeronautics and space missions that not only improve United States aeronautics and space capabilities, but also reduce the cost of conducting those missions. (8) The space shuttle will remain for the foreseeable future the Nation's only means of safe and reliable crewed access to space. As a result, the Congress is committed to funding upgrades designed to improve the shuttle's safety and reliability. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration should continue to provide appropriate levels of funding in its annual budget requests to meet the schedule for completing the high-priority upgrades in a timely manner. (9) The Deep Space Network will continue to be a critically important part of the Nation's scientific and exploration infrastructure in the coming decades, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration should ensure that the Network is adequately maintained and that upgrades required to support future missions are undertaken in a timely manner. (10) The Hubble Space Telescope has proven to be an important national astronomical research facility that is revolutionizing our understanding of the universe and should be kept productive, and its capabilities should be maintained and enhanced as appropriate to serve as a scientific bridge to the next generation of space-based observatories. (11) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is to be commended for its successful efforts to transfer mobile robotics technologies to the United States industry through its existing 5-year commitment to the National Robotics Engineering Consortium (NREC). One of the attractive features of this activity has been NREC's ability to attract private sector matching funds for its government-sponsored projects. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration should give strong consideration to a continuation of its commitment to NREC after the current agreement expires. SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 42 USC 2452 For purposes of this Act— (1) the term "Administrator" means the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; (2) the term "commercial provider" means any person providing space transportation services or other space-related activities, the primary control of which is held by persons other than a Federal, State, local, or foreign government; (3) the term "critical path" means the sequence of events of a schedule of events under which a delay in any event causes a delay in the overall schedule; (4) the term "grant agreement" has the meaning given that term in section 6302(2) of title 31, United States Code;
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