Originally published in the Intertown Record.
By Bill Hoyt
Space travel is exhilarating, groundbreaking, and—let’s be honest—a logistical nightmare for insurance companies. While astronauts boldly go where no desk-bound insurance agent has gone before, actuaries sit back and sweat over the sheer number of things that could go catastrophically wrong. Explosive rocket launches? Check. Floating into the void? Check. Getting hit by space debris at 17,500 mph? Also check.
Astronauts have long struggled with life insurance, mostly because traditional policies balk at covering missions involving near-certain peril. When Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins prepared for Apollo 11, they faced astronomical insurance premiums—so high that purchasing a policy was impractical. So instead, they devised a clever workaround: signing hundreds of postal covers, which their families could sell if tragedy struck The idea? If they didn’t return, their families could sell them for a hefty price. Certainly unsettling, but it did the trick to ensure financial security without an official policy.
It’s an unfortunate truth that rockets explode. Which is why space agencies and private companies purchase specialized insurance covering launch failures, satellite malfunctions, and accidental deep-space abandonment. Lloyd’s of London famously insured the Intelsat 507 satellite, paying out millions when a rocket failure left it floating uselessly in orbit. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and other players now rely on comprehensive policies—because if you’re going to toss a multi-billion-dollar piece of machinery into the sky, you might as well have a safety net.
Despite being one of the most expensive structures ever built, the International Space Station (ISS) lacks a traditional insurance policy. The cost of insuring it would be astronomical—so instead, NASA and its partners assume the risk themselves. However, liability insurance does exist to protect against potential lawsuits if ISS debris causes damage on Earth—for situations like “a piece of ISS crashes into someone’s house” (which would make for an incredible home insurance claim).
Astronauts undergo rigorous training, but space travel still poses serious health risks. Microgravity weakens bones, radiation exposure increases cancer risks, and space debris could turn a routine mission into a disaster. While government-employed astronauts typically receive coverage through their agencies, private space travelers—like those flying with SpaceX—must secure their own policies. My prediction: Expect to see more tailored insurance plans for space tourists as commercial spaceflight expands.
As humanity pushes further into space, and as travel becomes more accessible to the average citizen, insurance will almost certainly evolve to meet new challenges. Will future policies cover asteroid mining accidents? Lunar colony disputes? Mars rover collisions? “Oops, my spaceship broke down on an asteroid”? Probably. After all, exploration may be risky, but from our perspective at the Hoyt Insurance Agency, with the right coverage, the future of space is looking bright.