42 U.S.C. § 18311 — United States human space flight policy

(a) Use of non-United States human space flight transportation services. The federal government generally cannot pay a foreign company or country to fly astronauts to space. There's an exception, but only if all three things are true: no U.S. government-run option exists, no U.S. commercial provider exists, and the foreign company is "qualified." This subsection also defines three terms. A "commercial provider" is anyone offering human spaceflight rides who isn't mainly controlled by the federal government, a state^* or local government, or a foreign government. A "qualified foreign entity" is a foreign company that follows all the safety rules that apply and isn't blocked by any other law from providing space transportation. A "United States commercial provider" is a commercial provider set up under U.S. or state law, more than half owned by U.S. citizens. None of this stops NASA's Administrator^* from making deals with foreign entities to keep flights safe and keep the ISS^* running.

(b) United States human space flight capabilities. Congress restates the policy already set out in section 70501(a) of title 51. The United States must always be able to send astronauts into space, in low-Earth orbit and beyond, without interruption. This capability is treated as essential to national security and to keeping the U.S. as a leader in exploring and using space.