The Federal Aviation Administration has invited public comment on its intention to renew a mandatory information collection that applies to commercial space operators carrying flight crew or space flight participants. The notice, published in the Federal Register on March 23, 2026 as FR Doc. 2026-05638 under Docket No. FAA-2025-5868, states that the agency is acting in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and intends to request that the Office of Management and Budget approve renewal of the collection. The information collected, the notice states, is mandatory, and the document identifies it by OMB Control Number 2120-0720, titled “Human Space Flight Requirements for Crew/Space Flight Participants.”

The notice describes the substance of what the collection covers. It states that the collection involves information demonstrating that a launch or reentry operation involving human participants will meet the risk criteria and requirements to ensure public safety. The FAA writes that it established requirements for human space flight crew and space flight participants as required by the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, and that on December 15, 2006 it published a final rule (71 FR 75616) establishing requirements for crew qualifications, training and notification, and training and informed consent requirements for space flight participants. According to the notice, those requirements were designed to achieve public safety and to notify participants of the risks they face from launch or reentry.

"The collection involves information demonstrating that a launch or reentry operation involving human participants will meet the risk criteria and requirement to ensure public safety."— FAA notice, FR Doc. 2026-05638, source

What the renewal covers

The document is a request for comments, and the FAA lists the specific questions on which it seeks input. It asks commenters to address whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the FAA's performance; the accuracy of the estimated burden; ways for the FAA to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information collection; and ways the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected information. The notice states that the agency will summarize and/or include the comments in its request for OMB's clearance of the collection. Written comments, the notice specifies, should be submitted by May 22, 2026, and may be filed through the electronic docket at regulations.gov using the docket number, or by mail to the address listed in the notice.

The notice characterizes the action as a renewal rather than a new collection. It records that a Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the collection was published on September 26, 2023 (88 FR 66121), and that there were no comments. The current notice, by contrast, is the request-for-comments step that accompanies the FAA's submission to OMB for renewed clearance. The document states that there are no FAA forms associated with this collection, and lists the type of review as renewal of an information collection.

Who is covered and the reported burden

The notice defines the population of respondents in plain terms. It states that all commercial space entities that propose to conduct a launch or reentry with flight crew or space flight participants on board must comply with this collection. The information collected, the document adds, is used by the FAA, a licensee or permittee, and a space flight participant — reflecting the informed-consent dimension of the underlying requirements, under which participants are to be notified of the risks of launch and reentry.

On the size of the paperwork obligation, the notice reports the FAA's own estimates. It lists the frequency of the collection as “on occasion,” the estimated average burden per response as 4 hours, and the estimated total annual burden as 808 hours. Those figures are the agency's accounting of the time the collection is expected to impose across all respondents in a year, and they are among the specific items on which the notice invites comment regarding accuracy. The relatively modest total reflects that the requirement applies only when an operator proposes a crewed or participant-carrying launch or reentry, rather than to routine uncrewed missions. By inviting comment specifically on the accuracy of the estimated burden and on ways the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected information, the notice leaves room for respondents to contest those hour estimates as part of the OMB clearance record.

Where the document fits

For readers following the regulatory record around human commercial spaceflight, the notice is significant as a procedural marker rather than a change in substantive requirements. The obligations themselves — crew qualifications, training and notification, and informed-consent procedures for space flight participants — were established by the 2006 final rule under the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, and the notice does not propose to alter them. What the document does is keep the information collection that supports those obligations in force, by carrying it through the periodic OMB clearance cycle required under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

The notice is signed by James A. Hatt, identified as Space Policy Division Manager in the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, and lists Charles Huet as the contact for further information. The document directs interested parties to the public docket and sets the comment deadline of May 22, 2026 for input on the necessity, burden estimate, and clarity of the collection. Operators planning crewed launches or reentries, and analysts tracking the compliance obligations attached to human spaceflight licensing, can consult the full Federal Register text for the precise description of the collection, the statutory and rulemaking history it cites, and the burden figures the FAA has placed before OMB.