Commentary on provisions of the Act Security Schedule 4: Offences against the safety of spacecraft etc
This Schedule sets out offences against the safety of spacecraft and carrier-aircraft; offences endangering safety at spaceports and offences in relation to dangerous articles. Offences in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 5 are based on offences against the safety of aircraft under Part I of the Aviation Security Act 1982. The offence at paragraph 4 is based on the offence in section 1 of the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990, concerning endangering safety at aerodromes.
	Paragraph 1 makes it an offence to hijack a UK launched spacecraft.
	Paragraph 2 makes it an offence to destroy, damage or endanger a UK launched spacecraft or carrier-aircraft.
	Paragraph 3 makes it an offence to unlawfully and intentionally destroy, damage or interfere with property if this is likely to endanger the safety of a UK-launched spacecraft.
	Paragraph 4 makes it an offence to commit acts of violence at a spaceport. The offence at sub-paragraph (2)(a)(ii) is drafted to dovetail with paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 4. Therefore, certain craft being prepared for launch or having completed a flight in the previous 24 hours are carved out from sub-paragraph (2)(a)(ii) because they are covered by paragraph 2(3).
	Paragraph 5 makes it an offence to possess certain articles specified in sub-paragraph (2) on board a spacecraft or at a spaceport, mission management or range control facility in the UK.
	Paragraph 5(5) and (6) treat a person as having an article with him or her in certain specified circumstances – but these paragraphs do not limit the circumstances in which a person will be regarded as having an article with him or her, but rather it extends them.