Space Tourism Issues

The successful launches of SpaceShipOne raised the possibility of an emerging U.S. commercial space tourism industry that would make human space travel available to the public. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has responsibility for safety and industry promotion, licenses operations of commercial space launches and launch sites. To allow the industry to grow, Congress prohibited FAA from regulating crew and passenger safety before 2012, except in response to high-risk events. This book evaluates FAA''s safety oversight of commercial space launches, response to emerging issues, and challenges in regulating and promoting space tourism and responding to competitive issues affecting the industry. This book also highlights the federal role in commercial space launches and the government''s response to emerging industry trends, both domestically and internationally. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.