Document and Entity Information - shares	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2018	May 01, 2018
Entity Information [Line Items]
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Mar. 31, 2018
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2018
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Trading Symbol	lorl
Entity Registrant Name	LORAL SPACE & COMMUNICATIONS INC.
Entity Central Index Key	0001006269
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Accelerated Filer
Voting Common Stock [Member]
Entity Information [Line Items]
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		21,427,078
Non-voting Common Stock [Member]
Entity Information [Line Items]
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		9,505,673