Abstract
In August 2023, following its successful mission, Virgin Galactic announced the intention to provide scheduled services into space. Yet, this paper sets out to present evidence to argue that, from an international (U.N.) perspective, there has been a lack of activity to establish safeguards and to ensure a fit for purpose governance and oversight mechanism is in place for this new and growing sector—space tourism. The research is undertaken by way of a comparison law/policy analysis which factors in key historic events across both aviation and space. The main focus is given to the developments and approach of the U.S. The research finds that there remains a number of areas where clarity and advancement is needed both nationally (U.S.) and internationally; and that, without suitable governance and frameworks being established—safety is compromised, and equitability is not ensured for space tourists. It is advocated that there are clear lessons to be learnt from aviation developments and practices and that one solution would be a governance and oversight system as has been established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Published Version
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