SPACE tourism operators need to get real about the extraordinary risks they face, the US Federal Aviation Administration warned last week.
George Nield, head of the FAA unit that regulates commercial human space flight safety, said many civil companies presented their efforts as pioneering a 鈥済olden age鈥�. For example, the X Prize Foundation, which backed the $10 million prize for the first civilian spacecraft to reach sub-orbit, has often likened the race to Charles Lindbergh鈥檚 1927 transatlantic flight which set off the golden era of aviation.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 going on now represents a very different level of risk,鈥� in Washington DC. If you have to draw parallels, he said, look to the early supersonic jets, such as the F-104 Starfighter, dubbed the Widowmaker, which took the lives of 110 pilots of the Luftwaffe alone.
Advertisement
Neglecting safety could mean 鈥渁n end to commercial human space flight before it has chance to get started鈥�, he warned.
鈥淣eglecting space safety could mean an end to civil space flight before it gets started鈥�
Sputnik鈥檚 Legacy 鈥� Learn more about humanity鈥檚 first 50 years in space in our .
