Private commercial spaceflight: the ‘National space regulatory sherpas’ are shaping the path

Abstract

The ‘National Space Regulatory Sherpas’ of the United States of America, i.e., its domestic laws, are shaping a completely new stage in the ‘Space Age’ opened on October 4, 1957, and the example of successful missions such as Polaris Dawn —first private spacewalk— will be echoed in multiple domestic legislations elsewhere in the world. As far as private commercial spaceflights and the delimitation of outer space are concerned, the functionalist approach has the upper hand.