Establishing Recommended Practices for Commercial Human Space Flight Occupant Safety

Abstract

Abstract In 2013, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released Established Practices for Human Space Flight Occupant Safety, a draft guidance document for the rapidly developing commercial human space flight industry. The initial draft document was intended to facilitate a discussion with stakeholders, with the hope of gaining a consensus among government, industry, and academia on practices related to human space flight occupant safety. In September 2014, the FAA released an updated version entitled Recommended Practices for Human Space Flight Occupant Safety. The document provides a framework for industry to use in developing industry consensus standards. It can also serve as a starting point, should there be a need for the government to issue regulations at some point in the future. One of the main challenges in preparing the practices was to accommodate the diverse system designs and potential future plans of U.S. industry. Some U.S. companies are focused on carrying people and experiments ...