They're Standing In The Way Of Branson's Virgin Galactic Venture

Burt Rutan is a little peeved these days, put off by rules that govern the export of technology from the United States. Those rules could very well delay the launch of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, an enterprise aimed at putting big money passengers into suborbital space.

BBC Correspondent Irene Mona Klotz reports from Cape Canaveral that Scaled Composites' deal to sell Virgin Atlantic space-going tourist vehicles built on the technology that won the X-Prize last year is now in jeopardy because of tight US controls on technology exports.

Rutan is fuming.

"I thought Britain was a relatively friendly nation," Rutan told a recent Congressional committee hearing. He was quoted by the BBC. "We have wrestled with this problem in terms of technology transfer to Virgin Atlantic for about five months now, and it has been difficult."

Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, was also on Capitol Hill for the recent hearings and seemed equally -- if not more eloquently -- frustrated.

"At this point we are not able to even view Scaled Composites' designs for the commercial space vehicle," Whitehorn testified. "After US government technology-transfer issues are clarified, and addressed if deemed necessary, we hope to place a firm order for the spacecraft." He, too, was quoted by the BBC.

But therein lies the rub. Virgin Galactic had hoped to get off the ground in 2007. Whitehorn now says that won't happen. The first commercial space tourist flight probably won't take off until 2008 -- or even 2009.

"We have had to move away from the basic concept of this being a foreign-funded development," Rutan said. That may be the most elegant solution to the technology export bottleneck -- Rutan funding his own development. But then there's the pricetag.

But as Correspondent Klotz reported, Rutan saved his harshest criticism for the FAA and its regulation of manned commercial spaceflight.

"The process (of obtaining FAA approval for his SpaceShipOne flights last year) just about ruined my program," he told the BBC. "It resulted in cost overruns, increased the risk for my test pilots, did not reduce the risk to the non-involved public, destroyed our 'always question, never defend' safety policy and removed our opportunities to seek new innovative safety solutions."

At issue, he said, were the very same rules that, at the time, applied to both unmanned and manned commercial launches. What Rutan would rather see are rules that more like those applying to commercial airlines.

"The regulatory process was grossly misapplied for our research tests and, worse yet, is likely to be misapplied for the regulation of the future commercial space liners," he said.

FMI: www.scaled.com