“This is by far the most exciting time in human spaceflight,” said Steve Isakowitz, president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, in a recent interview. “With all of that excitement, it’s really an opportune time to examine where we’ve been and where we need to go in crew safety.”

Aerospace has been one of the organizations highlighting the need to consider space rescue issues now. In its 2024 Space Safety Compendium report published in December, it highlighted what it called the “in-space rescue capability gap” that exists today for missions to low Earth orbit or beyond.

“Neither the U.S. government nor commercial spaceflight providers currently have plans in place to conduct a timely rescue of a crew or participants from a distressed spacecraft in LEO or anywhere else in space,” the report stated.