GAO-07-16 Commercial Space Launches: FAA Needs Continued Planning and Monitoring to Oversee the Safety of the Emerging Space Tourism Industry

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.

This select volume of historical documents is organized chronologically, spanning from 1914 to the present. Divided into eight chapters, it includes a narrative introduction to each historical period. This collection of historical documents provides insight into the history of the United States in its pursuit of the peaceful uses of outer space, with emphasis on the manned space program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as commercial American activities supporting human spaceflight in the early 21st century. Rocketry and space technology have served varied goals throughout the Space Age: pure research, as well as research applied for national security, national prestige, and commercial profit. There have been varied actors as well, among them individuals supported by philanthropists as well as governments, intergovernmental organizations, international consortiums, and for-profit corporations. This book focuses on space exploration, and in particular, human space exploration, leading to the questions, "Why have humans gone into outer space in the past?" and "Why will they do so in the future?" These documents help readers to examine the variety of fascinating answers to those questions.