Insuring Billionaires in Space: A Risk Manager’s Fever Dream

A pop star, a scientist and a movie producer flew into space yesterday. 

And while that's a sentence you would normally expect from a 6-year-old playing make-believe, this did, in fact, happen. 

Recreational space travel is officially a thing, albeit for the very wealthy. As I write this, I'm using a keyboard with the letters rubbed off of 14 keys because I'm too cheap to buy a replacement, so it looks like I won't be joining Katy Perry on rockets any time soon. 

But it does look like we have a whole new risk exposure and potential insurance line of coverage. 

So, who insures recreational space travel?

XINSURANCE advertises coverage for Blue Origin passengers. Although, if I were someday rich enough to buy a space flight (and a new keyboard!) I'm not sure I would purchase insurance as a passenger. After all, unless my health insurance decides to start excluding coverage for injuries or illnesses related to space travel, then I'm already covered for medical bills. And if I sustained some sort of bodily injury, I could potentially pursue whatever general liability policy Jeff Bezos carries for Blue Origin. 

That is...if he's insured. 

XINSURANCE was in the news back in 2021, when Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson were battling it out to see which rich dude could get to space first. Apparently, XINSURANCE offered liability coverage to Bezos, but he declined. I guess when you're a billionaire, uninsured space travel fits into your risk appetite. 

What does this mean for you, if recreational space travel is in your future?

You'll probably need to sign a LOT of waivers, and even if Blue Origin is insured, it is still unknown what limits and exclusions a space travel policy would entail. And like most insurance costs, these would probably be passed down to the consumer. So if you think space travel is expensive NOW, just wait until Blue Origin starts raising its insurance coverage.