Regulations Could Delay or Prevent Space Tourism

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday January 21, 2014 @05:10PM from the fly-me-to-the-moon dept.

schwit1 writes "This report explains how Virgin Galactic space tourists could be grounded by federal regulations. From the article: 'Virgin Galactic submitted an application to the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation in late August 2013, says Attenborough. The office, which goes by the acronym AST, has six months to review the application, meaning an approval may come as early as February. Industry experts, however, say that may be an overly optimistic projection. "An application will inevitably be approved, but it definitely remains uncertain exactly when it will happen," says Dirk Gibson, an associate professor of communication at the University of New Mexico and author of multiple books on space tourism. "This is extremely dangerous and unchartered territory. It's space travel. AST has to be very prudent," he says. "They don't want to endanger the space-farers or the public, and they can't let the industry get started and then have a Titanic-like scenario that puts an end to it all in the eyes of the public.""

1 of 186 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

do not question your government by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-21 17:29 · Score: 0, Troll

Do not question your government's financial interest in preventing you from leaving Earth. Now pay your taxes and pay no attention to the boot stomping on your face forever.