Blanket U.S. Immunity Law Sought by Space Tourist Industry

Virgin Galactic and Space Adventures and other members of Personal Spaceflight Federation (PSF), which is space tourism’s trade organization, are seeking new legislation in California, Florida, Texas and Oklahoma where commercial spaceports are located.

PSF members are seeking a law that would grant space tour operators immunity from claims if injury or death of a tourist results from the “inherent risks of spaceflight activity.”

Under current US law, suborbital vehicles, unlike airliners, are not government certificated. Space tourists travel under informed consent which does not automatically shield the service provider from a possible lawsuit in the event of an accident.

Spaceflight liability and immunity act, currently in the process of approving by Virginia’s state legislature and that the industry is hoping to spread to California, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma, would protect the industry from possible future lawsuits by relatives of a suborbital or orbital space tourist who is injured or killed in a vehicle accident.