Permission to land: US draws up rules for commercial moon travel

Government agencies work on solution to cover regulatory gap governing space activities by private companies

US government agencies are working on temporary rules to allow a private company to land a spacecraft on the moon next year, while Congress weighs a more permanent legal framework to govern future commercial missions to the moon, Mars and other destinations beyond Earth's orbit, officials said.

Plans by private companies to land spacecraft on the moon or launch them out of Earth's orbit face legal obstacles because the US has not put in place regulations to govern space activities, said industry and government officials.