New regulations proposed for space tourists

The FAA has warned that 'new technologies carry new risks'

The US Federal Aviation Administration has published its draft recommendations for commercial space travel. 

The 123-page document lists includes directives on telling passengers how many trips the craft has made into orbit, and any problems it has suffered. Passengers must also be reminded that the craft has not been certified by the government.

Space tourists should be given pre-flight training to handle emergencies such as a fire or loss of cabin pressure, and how to use the emergency exits.

Passengers may also be subject to the no-fly list currently operating in the US which is designed to stop terrorists boarding flights.

"New technologies carry new risks. Nonetheless, Congress recognises that private industry has begun to develop commercial launch vehicles capable of carrying human beings into space, and greater private investment in these efforts will stimulate the nation's commercial space transportation industry as a whole," said the report.

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic has begun the process of building the world's first commercial spaceport in New Mexico. The entrepreneur expects flights to begin in 2008, and 75 people have already paid the $200,000 fee.