FAA Begins Advisory Committee Meetings on Regulations to Protect Commercial Spaceflight Passengers

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is set to begin a series of what could become monthly meetings with its Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) to begin early work on developing regulations to protect occupants of commercial suborbital or orbital spacecraft.
Existing law is very permissive about commercial passengers on suborbital or orbital spaceflights, essentially taking a "buyer beware" approach where passengers must be informed about the risks by the company offering the service and then sign a waiver saying that they understand the risks and want to fly anyway. That law was passed in 2004 and Congress said that the FAA could not set more stringent regulations for eight years, with the expectation that commercial flights would soon commence and eight years would provide sufficient experience on which to base any needed additional regulations. However, those years elapsed without any of the commercial suborbital or orbital spaceflight companies offering such trips, so earlier this year Congress extended the prohibition on regulations until October 1, 2015.
Although the FAA is precluded from issuing regulations, it wants to gather information so it is well informed by the time it might be called upon to do so. The first step in the ...