Commercial Space Transportation Industry Trends And Key Issues Affecting Federal Oversight And International Competitiveness

Commercial Space Transportation: Industry Trends and Key Issues Affecting Federal Oversight and International Competitiveness

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.

The commercial space launch industry has evolved and moved further toward space tourism. Commercial space tourism promises to make human space travel available to the public for the first time. In addition, NASA plans to use private companies to transport cargo, and eventually personnel, to the International Space Station after NASA retires the space shuttle later in 2011. The FAA oversees the safety of commercial space launches, licensing and monitoring the safety of such launches and of commercial spaceports, and promotes the industry. This testimony addresses: (1) recent industry trends; (2) FAA's related budget request for FY 2012; and (3) challenges that FAA and industry faces. Illustrations. This is a print on demand report.

Commercial Space Transportation: Industry Trends, Government Challenges, and International Competitiveness Issues

" The commercial space launch industry is changing as NASA plans to begin procuring commercial cargo transportation services to the International Space Station later this year and companies are developing vehicles that could carry passengers for space tourism flights. FAA is responsible for overseeing the safety of commercial space launches and promoting the industry. A catastrophic commercial space launch accident could result in injuries or property damage to the public, or "third parties." In anticipation of such an event, launch companies are required to purchase launch insurance, per calculations done by FAA and, under the Commercial Space Launch Act, the federal government is potentially liable for claims above that amount of purchased insurance. Unless reauthorized, the indemnification provision expires this year. This testimony addresses (1) trends and forecasts in the commercial space launch industry and challenges FAA faces in overseeing and promoting the industry, (2) preliminary information on issues concerning federal indemnification for third party losses, and (3) challenges to global competitiveness for the U.S. commercial space launch industry. This statement is based on a past GAO report and testimonies on commercial space launches, updated with information GAO gathered from FAA and NASA on industry trends and recent FAA and NASA actions, and"

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.