On the Construction of China's Commercial Manned Spaceflight Launch Licensing Regime

Against the backdrop of rapid development in commercial manned spaceflight, the scientific construction of a launch licensing regime has become a crucial mechanism for regulating development and ensuring safety. Currently, China's commercial manned spaceflight licensing system lags behind practical needs, lacking a unified and systematic legal framework. Core legal issues include overly stringent procedures, non-differentiated licensing conditions, and an inadequate supervisory mechanism. By analyzing the evolution of the U.S. commercial manned spaceflight licensing regime — from a laissez-faire approach to a more refined and risk-based regulation — this study identifies key institutional features such as crew classification, informed consent, and tripartite responsibility sharing. Drawing on these insights and grounded in China's regulatory realities, it is proposed to reform a stepwise and risk-oriented regulatory model involving institutional reform, streamline approval procedures, task-and personnel-based license differentiation, and improve mechanisms for oversight and responsibility allocation.