If you’re planning on a space trip, make sure you don’t get caught out by red tape and bureaucracy. Dr Jill Stuart, from the London School of Economics, an expert in space law, gives us some advice about the necessary paperwork.
1 Do I need a passport to go into space?
Not yet. Space remains the domain of so few people that it’s straightforward keeping track of who has been up there. You also don’t need the added weight of identity papers. But this doesn’t mean you’ll be anonymous. All your details will be logged with the domestic government of the country you are launching from, as well as the United Nations and other space-monitoring bodies. Governments in particular would be legally responsible if something happens to you, so they will be watching you carefully.
Outer space law was written when astronauts were few, highly vetted and government-employed. With the rise of private companies offering to take civilians into space, an international space passport regime may well be on the cards. If you crash back to earth you are considered to be an ‘envoy of all mankind’, and whatever country rescues you must be nice to you and send you home. Your home government would likely get sent a bill for the recovery effort.
2 Do I need a visa to land on another planet?
No. According to outer space law, all ‘celestial bodies’ in the universe are considered to be ‘neutral territory’, not subject to the appropriation of any nation-state, so there are no governments to apply to.
3 Do I need travel insurance to go to space?
You don’t need insurance, but your ‘vehicle’ will need a heck of a lot. Before your trip, one country will accept responsibility for your spacecraft when it is logged with the United Nations Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space. They will be legally liable for any damage you or your spacecraft cause in space or by crashing to earth, so they will not allow you to get near your rocket without some solid insurance. To launch an unmanned satellite from the UK, for example, the British government currently requires insurance of around $600 million to cover preparation, launch, satellite life and eventual de-orbiting.
The concern of countries about their liability is illustrated by the case of Dennis Tito. Tito became known as the world’s first space ‘tourist’ after paying $20 million to spend a week on the International Space Station in 2001. There are two habitable modules, one under the ‘ownership/launching’ of the US and one of Russia. The Americans were so concerned about the possibility of Tito getting hurt or causing damage in ‘their’ module that Tito was nearly restricted to the Russian ‘territory’. An agreement was eventually reached to allow him to move between the two modules. (Presumably the cost of his flight included liability coverage.)
4 What happens if you commit a crime in space?
There is some precedence of criminal liability in outer space. In establishing the ISS it was decided humans would be subject to the jurisdiction of either Russia or the United States, depending on which ‘module’ they were in at the time. Eventually a waiver of liability was established. Although it is as yet untested, I suspect a crime committed by an astronaut would be similar to a diplomat accused of a crime in a foreign territory: the person in question would potentially be in trouble, though there would be some level of ‘immunity’ based on this waiver.
The social norms for good behaviour by astronauts and their small numbers make crime unlikely. What will complicate things is when more civilians go into space and journeys become far longer. If we take high seas law as a precedent, a crime committed in the neutral territory of outer space would be considered under the laws of the country that is the spaceship’s ‘launching state’. However, in the longer term some galactic norms and rules independent of earth’s oversight seem inevitable.
5 Can I get married in space?
A wedding in space would most likely follow the precedent of the high seas: the captain of the ‘vessel’ could officiate, and the marriage itself would be subject to the laws of the country registered as the launching state of the spaceship. You would basically be getting married ‘in’ the country that ‘owns’ the spacecraft.
But my advice would be to have the wedding on land and a symbolic ceremony aboard your chosen craft. If you are a Russian cosmonaut, it might be written into your contract that you may not wed in space – a clause supposedly added after Yuri Malenchenko married his wife (who was in Texas) in 2003, which garnered disapproval from the Russian authorities.
6 What legally happens to my corpse if I die in space?
Your death would probably be recorded according to the domestic laws of the country that launched your spacecraft. If your body were then expelled into space (which seems likely on a long trip, such as to Mars), I believe it would remain the legal responsibility of the state that launched the spacecraft. If your body later collided with another spacecraft, the launching country would be liable for the damage. If it were to collide with something else, there is a decent chance this would be known: we are quite good at tracking large pieces of debris we have put into space. However, so long as your body were either jettisoned into deep space or put into a ‘decay’ orbit to burn up in earth’s atmosphere, rather than left in orbit, it is highly unlikely it would encounter another object.
7 What is the nationality if a baby is born in space?
This has yet to happen, but I suspect it would be a combination of the mother’s nationality, the father’s nationality and the nationality of the spacecraft that the birthing mother is travelling on. Babies born on aeroplanes travelling internationally are subject to various combinations of these three. Where I suspect this will get more interesting and controversial is when we are in a long-term flight or colonization situation. What if the parents no longer feel allegiance to any country and want their child to be not only stateless but perhaps ‘earthless’?
8 Do I need to file taxes in space?
Astronauts are not exempt from paying taxes and will be liable to file in whatever country they are domiciled in on earth. Apollo 13’s Jack Swigert famously asked Mission Control how to apply for an extension on his income tax return. But where an astronaut is technically from is not always clear. Several NASA astronauts were born elsewhere but became US citizens to apply to the American-only space programme. Where a person pays taxes depends on the laws of the country they are born in and that of the country they have relocated to. However, being off-earth is not an excuse.