Abstract
Commercial human spaceflight inherently raises numerous medical, legal and ethical considerations with regard to the health and safety of civilian spaceflight participants (SFPs) and commercial crew members. Nascent and emerging space companies are currently proposing a diverse range of commercial orbital, suborbital and eventually point-to-point transportation services. Bioethical and ensuing legal issues therefore arise throughout the course of these activities including preflight medical screening, evaluation and training; medical services and emergency measures in transit to and from space; as well as tele-medicine services that may be rendered while in space, and post-flight evaluations...This chapter will address spaceflight risks, review current legal and ethical parameters for clinicians and physicians in providing medical care to SFPs and discuss novel bioethical and legal considerations for the new commercial space industry and society.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Commercial Space Exploration: Ethics, Policy and Governance |
| State | Published - 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- space medicine
- commercial space operations
- spaceflight crew
- space law
- bioethics
- commercial space industry
Disciplines
- Air and Space Law
- Medicine and Health Sciences