Space launch ground and flight activities by their nature create safety risks to personnel, public and private property and the environment. This standard identifies the safety roles and responsibilities for the conduct of aerospace vehicle ground and flight activities and provides a framework for the allocation of these responsibilities between the launch vehicle operator, the operator of the launch site, payload provider and other operators who may be conducting operations simultaneously on the same launch site.

This standard defines a process for conducting the safety risk management analyses necessary to define the requirements and procedures for the protection of personnel involved in launch activities, the public, and property on and off the launch site. This standard also addresses the processing of aerospace vehicles on the launch site and during the flight phase. It provides basic principles to enable the operators to implement their own safety methods, tools, and procedures, to ensure the safety of people, public and private property, and the environment, in a consistent and homogeneous manner.