AXIOS by Miriam Kramer 1/3/2023
A ban on regulating private rockets is set to expire this year, opening up human spaceflight companies to safety regulations for those flying on their systems — and defining the future of the industry.
Why it matters: The human spaceflight industry is growing, and while revenue is still relatively small, it's the most visible part of the space economy and the most influential for the public's understanding of space.
• Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are currently sending private citizens to space, and Boeing will potentially enter human operations this year.
• An accident for any of the operators could be disastrous for courting customers.
• "It is very unsatisfying to just wait for an accident. There is no guarantee that a regulation or a standard can save somebody... but it builds a foundation," Josef Koller of the Aerospace Corporation tells Axios. "Safety is in the interest of all. It should not be a proprietary thing."
What's happening: The "learning period" banning the Federal Aviation Administration from enacting regulations to protect the safety of private people flying to orbit or the edge of space absent an extreme, unplanned event like serious injury or death is set to expire in October.
• If Congress allows the moratorium on regulation to expire, the human spaceflight industry will be opened up to new regulations to protect the safety of people carried to space on their rockets.
• “The FAA is taking action now to develop a safety framework if the moratorium expires," the FAA's Kelvin Coleman tells Axios via email.
• "The safety framework should not stifle industry technology development but encourage innovation while guarding the safety of the crew, government astronauts, and space flight participant as well as the uninvolved public," the FAA wrote in a draft report to Congress released last year.
• The FAA also plans to create a transition plan that will move the industry toward regulation instead of enacting all regulations at once.
More:
https://www.axios.com/2023/01/03/private-human-spaceflight-regulations 
