In issue 2024-3 (February 2025) of UIA’s ‘Juriste International’ magazine, Janice F. Mulligan (Lexing USA) explains all you need to know about the health and safety of Space Travelers.
Space Travels: With Great Expectations Come Significant Health risks
Our quest for exploration knows no limits. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has ambitious plans to send a crew to establish a base camp on the moon, and, eventually, to send humans to Mars. Commercial aerospace has similar plans of its own that began in 2021 when SpaceX made history by sending the first all-civilian crew into orbit.
While the current record for a single space trip is 371 consecutive days, a return journey to Mars is expected to last about 1,100 days (more than three years). Aside from being marooned by a disabled spaceship or struck by an asteroid, there are significant health risks air travelers will face just by virtue of spending prolonged periods in outer space. Before we launch space travelers to the celestial bodies for increasingly longer stretches of time, we must be sure they will be safe.
The Urgent Need to Regulate and Protect the Rights of Space Travelers
In this article for the International Association of Lawyers (UIA)‘s ‘Juriste International’ magazine, Janice F. Mulligan, Founder of Mulligan Law and Lexing member for the USA, addresses two key issues:
- 1. Space Colonization and Lengthy Human Spaceflight Are not yet Reasonably Medically Safe
- 2. Existing International Space Treaties and Legislation Are Insufficient to Fit the Medical Needs of Evolving Advancements in Manned Space Travel.
While the prospect of space travel to far off places is enticing, more research must first be done to ensure space travelers’ long-term health. Government and civilian astronauts must be able to make informed decisions about potential permanent health risks, including harmful and irreversible changes to their DNA, which could affect their progeny.
As the boundaries of space exploration expand into unprecedented territory, additional laws are required to address a plethora of new issues including the safety of space tourists and their rights and responsibilities as it relates to space tourism, colonization, and commercialization.
Our advice:
Juriste International is a UIA trilingual (French, English and Spanish) magazine published by Lexis-Nexis. Established in 1927 and with members in 110 countries, the UIA is a global and multi-cultural organization for the legal profession that facilitates professional development, stimulates learning and networking, and promotes the Rule of Law.