Commercial Space Launch Act
The US statute (codified in Title 51) authorising the FAA to license commercial launch and reentry, including financial-responsibility and indemnification provisions.
First enacted in 1984 and now codified in Title 51 of the US Code, the Commercial Space Launch Act gives the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation authority to license and regulate commercial launch and reentry.
It establishes a financial-responsibility regime under which operators carry insurance sized to a maximum-probable-loss analysis, with a federal indemnification layer available above the required cover for catastrophic third-party claims. The FAA's modern launch and reentry rules are consolidated in Part 450.
The Act underpins the entire US commercial launch market.