Aon offers insurance for space tourists

Aon plc announced this week it is providing trip cancellation insurance for space tourists intending to travel on Lynx suborbital spaceplanes operated by Amsterdam-based Space Expedition Corp. (SXC).

“This insurance policy provides coverage for losses related to flight cancellation, postponement or temporary interruption,” SXC and Aon stated in a joint press release Tuesday. “It is based upon a regular non-appearance cancellation policy and also includes additional supplemental coverage.”

SXC plans to offer private citizens flights up to 103 kilometres above the earth’s surface starting in 2014 at a cost of US$95,000 each. It will use the reusable Lynx spaceplane, designed by rocket manufacturer XCOR Aerospace of Mojave, Calif. People who want to travel on the spaceplane will have to go through medical testing and preparatory training.

The Lynx has four rocket engines and is designed to take off from a regular runway, according to the SXC website. It weighs about 5,000 kg, with a wingspan of about 7.5 metres and a length of about nine metres. Each flight, which will last about an hour, will accommodate the pilot and one tourist, who will have to wear pressure suits and parachutes. The Lynx has ejection seats.

Tickets in Canada are available from The Adventure Travel Company in Toronto and from Uniktour Space in Quebec.

Photo: SXC’s launch in Berlin. (Credit: Space Expedition Corp.)