Space Tourism Trailblazers Still Rely on Federal Agency Funding

Space contractors have successfully launched more than a dozen commercial spaceflights in the last three years, though the industy’s infancy has lawmakers weighing continuing to shield the firms from regulation.

The industry has grown dramatically since a moratorium on Federal Aviation Administration regulation of commercial spaceflight was first introduced in 2004. The moratorium has been extended twice, most recently in 2015 with the justification that companies were in a “learning period” (Public Law 114-90).

House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) plans to try extending the ban once again, a spokesperson told Bloomberg Government.

Elon Musk-led SpaceX ...