Spaceport wants protections from tourist lawsuits

Spaceport America officials are urging legislators to limit potential lawsuits from wealthy outer space tourists who take off from New Mexico, saying such a bill is crucial to the future of the project. Legal experts, however, say there is no way to know whether the so-called informed consent laws will offer any protection to spacecraft operators and suppliers in the event something goes wrong. "Since this has never happened yet, we have no precedent," said Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz, director of the space law program at the University of Mississippi.