Up, Up and … Back: The Emergence of Space Tourism and Its Impact on the International Law of Outer Space

[I]n a general sense, space is the ultimate frontier-and something we at Virgin have dearly wanted to do is bring space tourism one day to the masses.1 I. THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA OF SPACE ACTIVITIES In early October 2004, SpaceShipOne was successfully "launched" from its mother plane White Knight and went on to complete its second journey within the space of a week to an altitude of more than one hundred kilometers and back. As a result, Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a company established by the vehicle's designer Burt Rutan and financier Paul Alien, claimed the ten million dollar Ansari X Prize. More significantly, the success of the project demonstrated that the technology for short-term human suborbital flight had arrived, encouraging even more ambitious plans for space tourism. Already a new prize-the X Prize Cup-has been announced by the promoters of the Ansari X Prize, to be offered on an annual basis in recognition of further achievements in suborbital flight. Following the success of SpaceShipOne, entrepreneur Richard Branson announced an agreement with its designers for the construction of a larger commercial vehicle, which will provide Virgin Atlantic passengers with a three and a half hour journey into space. There are reports that over seven thousand people have already signed on to reserve a $275,000 seat on these flights, due to commence in 2008.2 A poll conducted in May 2002 indicated that 19 percent of affluent American adults would be willing to pay one hundred thousand dollars for a fifteen minute suborbital flight, while 7 percent would be prepared to pay twenty million dollars for a two-week flight to an orbital space station, with that figure rising to 16 percent if the price were reduced to a "mere" five million dollars.3 There can be no doubt that the prospect of commercial space tourism flights has captured widespread imagination. The public perception of commercial space travel has changed from mere fantasy to a possibility and will soon be a reality-much like the evolution of air travel. As a result, significant resources are being directed towards the continued advancement of Reusable Launch Vehicle ("RLV") technology, a vital element in the development of the space tourism industry. Many companies are developing the capability of providing civilian space tourist flights, particularly suborbital flights. One commentator has gone so far as to suggest that a traffic level of five million space passengers per year by 2030 is achievable and represents only a conservative estimate of the known demand among potential tourists. His vision for an attainable model envisages a sophisticated space tourism infrastructure including over one hundred co-orbital hotels and orbital sports centres, as well as daily scheduled lunar flights to a series of lunar orbit and lunar pole hotels.5 Clearly, if these forecasts are accurate, then the potential of space tourism as a significant commercial use of space will have been achieved. Of course there have already been earlier orbital tourist flights. In April 2001, American national Dennis Tito spent six days in the Russian section of the International Space Station ("ISS"), following extensive training at Russia's Star City complex. For the first time a passenger was able to pay for the privilege of participating in a mainstream space project involving actual orbital travel, including a stay on what is currently the world's most expensive "hotel." The trip by Mr. Tito was only possible following the agreement of all ISS Partners, and he spent his time "photographing the Earth and listening to opera recorded on compact discs."6 The participation of Tito had originally been opposed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ("NASA"), which argued that the presence of an "amateur" on the ISS would endanger the permanent crew. However, following the success of his journey, NASA became more open to the idea of space tourists within the context of the ISS project. …