Senate Passes Commercial Space Launch Liability Bill

Senate Passes Commercial Space Launch Liability Bill

The Senate passed legislation on Wednesday extending government indemnification of third party liability for commercial space launches for three more years. The bill passed by unanimous consent without debate. As passed by the Senate, H.R. 3819 is identical to the version earlier passed by the House, so no further action by Congress is required; the President is expected to sign it.

As SpacePolicyOnline.com reported earlier, the government indemnifies commercial launch services companies against liability for third party claims between $500 million and $2 billion. That means the government will pay those sums to settle claims by third parties if a commercial launch vehicle were to crash into a populated area, for example. The commercial company is responsible for purchasing insurance for amounts up to $500 million and over $2 billion if required by the FAA’s regulations. The current version of the legislation expires on December 31. This bill extends the provision through December 31, 2012.

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