Is there a law for age of space travel?

[kenbobo]

Seriously. If a 10 yr old had the training, and the 20 mil$, could he ride a Soyuz to the ISS?

[lajoswinkler]

Minors need parents' approval. Other than that, I don't know.

[sp1989]

Seriously. If a 10 yr old had the training, and the 20 mil$, could he ride a Soyuz to the ISS?

I honestly don't know. According to the NASA website there are no age restrictions http://astronauts.nasa.gov/content/faq.htm. Now does that mean would they train a 10 year old? Sure why not I mean its not impossible for a 10 year old to excel intellectually, and they would have to see if a child's body can endure the rigors of liftoff and reentry. Im gonna say its not impossible but highly unlikely.

[Capt.Joseph Kerbertson]

Seriously. If a 10 yr old had the training, and the 20 mil$, could he ride a Soyuz to the ISS?

I'm not sure his/her body could endure the harshness of the environment. It taxes full grown adults on top of the potential radiation exposure, it's not a forgiving place. I'm not saying that an adult has an immunity to radiation mind you, just that you wouldn't want someone that young to develop cancer at a very early age just because.

[Jouni]

I'm not sure his/her body could endure the harshness of the environment. It taxes full grown adults on top of the potential radiation exposure, it's not a forgiving place. I'm not saying that an adult has an immunity to radiation mind you, just that you wouldn't want someone that young to develop cancer at a very early age just because.

13-year-old kids have climbed Everest. Going to ISS probably isn't harder than that.

The radiation exposure at ISS is around 150 mSv/year. As the typical space tourists stays in orbit for 10-15 days, we're talking about 4-6 mSv doses here. That's comparable to the average yearly background dose or one major CT scan.

[Camacha]

I'm not sure his/her body could endure the harshness of the environment.

I suspect that children are actually a bit more flexible and resilient than people over 35.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Camacha

[Special Agent Sigvan]

I need 20 million dollars.

Naow.

[lajoswinkler]

I wouldn't recommend female children to go into space. Females are born with a complete set of eggs, as opposed to males, in whose bodies a dynamic equilibrium of gametogenesis and reabsorption (or expelling) occurs. You don't want those eggs to be bombarded with ionizing radiation. No one can decide to do that to a kid, and a kid is too ignorant to understand the consequences of such trip.

[SpaceXray]

If say the youngest allowed age would be 18 years old, not only because of mental and physical issues, but legal issues too since if you go to space, you have to write a will and must complete paperwork where you carry responsibility

[Nibb31]

Considering that there is a waiting list several years long for Soyuz, the question is moot, because you will be 18 by then.

As for having a minor on board, there's a whole bunch of liability and responsibility issues with this. There is high risk involved, and having a parent pay for the ticket sign-off poses all sorts of legal issues.

There's also the matter of training. Even if you are 10-year-old genius, I doubt that you have the maturity or the educational background to allow you to pass the training requirements.

[Kryten]

Leaving aside any explicit requirements, passengers on Soyuz have to pass the same physical as russian cosmonauts; a minor hasn't a snowballs chance in hell of doing that.