NEW YORK While private pilots and skydivers have to take out extra life insurance to cover the added risk of their pursuits, space tourists do not need special policies on their high flying rides.

That loophole is likely to disappear, slowly, after the fatal crash last week of a test flight of a Virgin Galactic space ship designed to take tourists into space.

The loophole exists because U.S. life insurance policies dont ask about space tourism or exclude it from coverage, meaning insurers most likely would have to pay if the holder died on a space trip, insurance industry veterans said.

Insurance companies, which say they are considering what to do about space tourists after the Virgin crash, are likely to start adding questions about space travel and may even explicitly exclude space coverage, the industry observers said.

The companies themselves are taking a cautious approach.

If we had an applicant with such plans, we would postpone any underwriting decision until they returned, Prudential spokeswoman Sheila Bridgeforth said.

Northwestern Mutual said that it is paying close attention to the issue after the crash but that there is too little safety data to assess the risk of space tourism. U.S. life insurer MetLife said it doesnt have imminent plans to offer space tourism insurance.

Still, the industry is starting to gear up for space tourists, just as they cover satellite launches. Pembroke Managing Agency offers a policy that pays up to $5 million per space passenger or up to $20 million per trip, according to parent Ironshore International, which announced the policy in June.

I suspect in insurance company offices all over the country right now as a result of whats happened to the Virgin Galactic plane its being discussed, said Burke Christensen, former insurance lawyer and chief executive.

It would take time, perhaps years, for those changes to be approved by all U.S. state insurance commissioners, he noted.

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Spacesuit? Life insurance? Space tourist loophole may end