ABSTRACT
Private human spaceflights have been defined as flights of humans intended to reach outer space, in which the humans transported are private individuals and responsible for the conduct of the flight is a private entity. Although such flights will often have a recreational character, they may serve other purposes, such as space exploration and experimentation.
There is a great variety of current and planned private human spaceflights. There are short 2-3 hour suborbital flights, which reach the edge of outer space and offer their passengers a brief experience of weightlessness and view of the curvature of the Earth, before returning to Earth. There are flights of civilians to the International Space Station (ISS), where they are accommodated for about a week. There are plans to build space hotels in orbit, which would serve both recreational purposes and offer opportunities for scientific experiments to interested parties. Furthermore, plans have been announced for private spaceflights beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to the Moon and Mars. It is highly likely that operators will require potential passengers to undergo medical screening before being accepted to fly.
Chatzipanagiotis, Michael P, Flying away: Informed consent in private human spaceflight from an EU law perspective (May 1, 2021). Proceedings of the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) Law Conferences 2021.
First posted 2022-06-01 13:45:18
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