Thu, Apr 08, 2004
SpaceShipOne Has A Ticket To Ride
The Department of Transportation has issued the world’s
first license for a sub-orbital manned rocket flight.
The license was issued April 1 by the Federal Aviation
Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation to
Scaled Composites of Mojave (CA), headed by aviation record-holder
Burt Rutan, for a sequence of sub-orbital flights spanning a
one-year period.
The FAA sub-orbital space flight license is required for US
contenders in the X-Prize competition, a high-stakes international
race ultimately to launch a manned, reusable private vehicle into
space and return it safely to Earth. The X-Prize foundation
will award $10 million to the first company or organization to
launch a vehicle capable of carrying three people to a height of
100 kilometers (62.5 miles), return them safely to Earth, and
repeat the flight with the same vehicle within two weeks.
Twenty-seven contestants representing seven countries have
already registered for the X-Prize contest, modeled on the $25,000
Orteig Prize for which Charles Lindbergh flew solo from New York to
Paris in 1927.
In its 20 years of existence, the FAA’s Office of
Commercial Space Transportation has licensed more than 150
commercial launches of unmanned expendable launch vehicles. This
license is the first to authorize manned flight on a sub-orbital
trajectory.
While the highest criteria to issue a license is public safety,
applicants must undergo an extensive pre-application process,
demonstrate adequate financial responsibility to cover any
potential losses, and meet strict environmental requirements.
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