1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Sally K. Ride Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2013”.
Sally K. Ride Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2013
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sally K. Ride in recognition of her exemplary service as an astronaut, physicist, and science education advocate.
2. Findings
Congress finds the following:
On June 18, 1983, as a crew member of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS–7 mission, Dr. Sally K. Ride became the first American woman to travel into space.
Dr. Ride traveled to space on October 5, 1984, as a crew member of STS 41–G.
Following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, Dr. Ride served as a member of the Presidential commission investigating the accident.
Dr. Ride also served on the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board in 2003, and was the only person to have served on both the Space Shuttle Challenger and the Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation boards.
In addition to her service as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut, Dr. Ride was a Ph.D. physicist and served as a professor of physics and the Director of the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego.
In 2001, to further her long-time passion of motivating girls and young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, Dr. Ride founded Sally Ride Science, a company that creates entertaining science programs and publications for elementary and middle school students.
Dr. Ride served as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council.
The exemplary service of Dr. Ride as a NASA astronaut, physicist, and science education advocate inspired a generation of Americans.
3. Congressional gold medal
Presentation authorized— The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration of Sally K. Ride in recognition of her exemplary service as an astronaut, physicist, and science education advocate.
Design and striking— For the purpose of the presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary.
4. Duplicate medals
The Secretary of the Treasury may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.
5. Status of medals
National Medals— The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
Numismatic Items— For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.
6. Authority to use fund amounts; proceeds of sale
Authorization To use fund amounts— There is authorized to be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be necessary to pay for the cost of the medals struck pursuant to this Act.
Proceeds of sale— Amounts received from the sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.