Space Tourist

Space Access, out of Miami, Florida aims to make space travel affordable for the tourism industry. If they have their way, space tourists will be able to ascend into Low Earth Orbit for as little as the price to travel aboard a cruise ship or charter a business jet.

Space Access is betting that they will be able to accomplish this feat because of the design of the aircraft that will take off and land at a typical airport and the special Ejector Ramjet engines (not to be confused with the Roger Ramjet engines).

The body is designed to be 23-percent lighter than other comparable spaceplanes and inhibit ice build up and are capable of dealing with reentry heat. The air-breathing ramjet engines are similar to the ones used in the past on classified hypersonic aircraft.

From January 6-11, 2008 Space Access will be offering its SpaceGateway Experience to the public at an exclusive resort in Key Largo, Florida. According to Space Access they will be lifting the veil of secrecy for this event and letting the public interact with personal and have a say in the development of low cost space flight.

It is assumed that when the space tourism industry finally takes off there will be legal issues that will need to be addressed first. Disclaimers and releases will need to be signed by participants deciding to hurl themselves into space.

But, there is also a question of law in outer space, such as if someone breaks the law or is thought to have broken the law, who decides guilt or innocence? There is an interesting article about astronauts on the International Space Station following the laws of the nation that owns certain parts of the station or breaking the laws of a nation that the ISS happens to be flying over at the moment.

These issues also will have to be addressed for the space tourism industry as well. For instance, if a Russian spacecraft is passing over the United States when an alleged crime occurs, whose jurisdiction is it? If a spaceplane collides with a satellite who has the right of way?

Since space tourism is such a new endeavor, these international legal questions regarding the proliferation of humans in space have not yet been worked out. But, they will need to be worked out since the space tourism is set to commence in a couple of short years.