Insurers Are Saying No To Insuring Jeff Bezos For His Space Travel Scheduled For Next Month

By now you must have heard that billionaire Jeff Bezos wants to travel to space. However, it is not an idea that insurers are finding too attractive.

Amazon CEO Bezos, a lifelong space enthusiast, has been competing with Elon Musk and Richard Branson to become the first billionaire to fly beyond the earth's atmosphere.

Insurers are well-known for offering cover for even the most bizarre risks. However, accidents in space not on their list.

"Space tourism involves significant risk, but is not an issue life insurers specifically ask about as yet because it is so rare for anyone to travel into space," Insurance Information Institute (III) spokesperson Michael Barry said.

AP (Jeff Bezos)

There is a nearly $500 million market to insure satellites, rockets and unmanned space flight, but no legal requirement for an operator such as Blue Origin, which Bezos founded, to insure passengers for injury or death or for space tourists to have life cover, brokers and insurers said.

"We're not aware of a case where anybody is insured against passenger liability," Neil Stevens, senior vice president, aviation and space at Marsh, the world's biggest insurance broker, told Reuters.

Bezos has plans to lift-off next month with a team of wannabe astronauts on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft. They will spend several minutes 62 miles (100 km) above the earth in a truck-sized capsule and of course, will have to travel the same distance to get back to Earth.

On June 10, Seradata SpaceTrak data showed that Blue Origin has flown 15 unmanned sub-orbital flights with no failures.

Reuters

Travelling to space uninsured is not new - NASA and the US do not buy liability cover and government launches are insured by taxpayers, Richard Parker of Assure Space, a unit of insurer AmTrust Financial that provides space insurance, said.

NASA astronauts are eligible for government life insurance programs, a NASA spokesperson revealed.

Charles Wetton, underwriting manager for space policies at insurer Global Aerospace, said astronauts on government-funded missions are carefully selected for their knowledge, skills and fitness and train for several years before blast off.

"They and their families understand the risks of the work they do, Wetton said.

However, since commercial space cadets only get a days of training for a sub-orbital flight or a few months for a ride to the International Space Station (ISS), Wetton said, adding: "These represent two very different risk profiles that insurers will take into account".

According to Blue Origin's website, the spaceflight passenger will receive training the day before the launch, including mission and vehicle overviews, safety briefings, mission simulation and instruction on in-flight activities.

Chuck Bigger

Virgin Galactic said participants will get three days of training and preparation before the launch.

Since insurers require bulletproof waivers and contracts from commercial space travel firms that state that they will bear no burden if a passenger dies during a flight.

NASA has approached insurers for its plans for a liability framework for privately-funded astronaut missions to the ISS. NASA's plans include requiring private astronauts to buy life insurance.

According to Tim Rush, senior vice president, US space, "It is still early days, but cover for space tourists may be the next step", He added that the life insurance market currently provides individual cover of $2-5 million for private astronauts.

The only compulsory insurance in place right now for commercial space operators is third-party liability, mainly to cover property damage on earth or to a flying aircraft, said Akiko Hama, client executive, space and aerospace underwriting at Global Aerospace.

The Franklin Institute

Blue Origin plans for its six-seater spacecraft to take off on July 20 and fly for four minutes beyond the boundary between the earth's atmosphere and outer space, where passengers will experience total weightlessness.