The Pursuit of Occupant Safety in Commercial Human Spaceflight

Abstract

Abstract

Safety is an attribute that is emphasized throughout the design, development, and operational phases of a spacecraft intended for human occupants, whether envisioned for government or commercial applications. Although no spaceflight can be assured to be completely safe, many engineering practices can be employed to identify and mitigate the ensuing risks to the extent practical to be deemed sufficiently “safe enough.” Research in this area conducted as part of the Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation (COE CST) has examined the background, terminology, and current practices associated with risk mitigation and safety assurance from the perspective of historical space missions and anticipated future commercial opportunities, as summarized in this article. The COE CST work to date has evolved through a series of tasks aimed at reviewing prior space program safety practices, characterizing the process of human-rating within a risk scenario framework, assessing provisioning needs for medical care, exploring the concept of “how safe is safe enough?” and contrasting the safety records of spaceflight to more typical terrestrial transportation and adventure sport activities in a manner intended to facilitate effective risk communication to potential participants.