Space Travel Insurance: What It Covers and Who Needs It

When you buy space travel insurance, a specialized policy designed to cover risks unique to human spaceflight, including launch failure, in-orbit emergencies, and emergency evacuation. Also known as commercial spaceflight insurance, it’s not just an upgrade to your regular travel plan—it’s a complete rethinking of risk for journeys beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Unlike normal travel insurance, which might cover lost luggage or a canceled flight, space travel insurance deals with scenarios no one could have imagined a decade ago: a rocket exploding on the pad, a capsule drifting off course, or a medical emergency in microgravity where the nearest hospital is 250 miles up.

Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic are making space tourism real, but they don’t cover your medical bills or rescue costs if something goes wrong. That’s where space tourism, the emerging industry of paying civilians to fly into space for leisure or experience comes in. If you’re one of the first thousand people to buy a ticket for a suborbital hop or a lunar flyby, you need to know what your policy includes—and what it doesn’t. Most policies now cover emergency medical evacuation from orbit, repatriation of remains, and even accidental death benefits tied to launch or reentry. But they often exclude pre-existing conditions, radiation exposure over time, or psychological trauma from spaceflight.

And it’s not just tourists who need this. private spaceflight, any space mission funded or operated by non-governmental entities, including crewed flights for research or commercial purposes is growing fast. Even astronauts hired by private firms—like those training for Axiom missions to the ISS—are finding that their employer’s coverage isn’t enough. NASA has detailed medical protocols and insurance for its astronauts, but commercial crew members often fall through the cracks. Some companies now require their employees to carry supplemental policies that cover long-term health impacts like vision loss or bone density decline, conditions linked to extended time in space.

There’s no single standard for space travel insurance yet. Policies vary wildly between providers, and many are still in testing phases. Some offer coverage only for the flight window; others extend to pre-flight training or post-flight recovery. A few even include coverage for lost digital assets—like personal photos or data stored on devices that might be destroyed during reentry. The market is young, but it’s growing fast, driven by demand from wealthy travelers, corporate teams, and even scientists heading to orbital labs.

If you’re even thinking about booking a ticket to space, don’t just sign the waiver. Read the fine print on the insurance. Ask what’s covered if the mission gets scrubbed. Ask if your policy covers you if you’re stranded in orbit. Ask if your family gets paid if you don’t come back. These aren’t hypothetical questions anymore—they’re the new normal for anyone stepping onto a rocket.

Below, you’ll find real-world breakdowns of what’s available, who’s offering it, and how to protect yourself before you leave the planet.