Establishes New Part 460 Guidelines For Flight Crews

After receiving comments from The FAA received comments from 42 entities, including aerospace companies, associations, service providers, individuals and other agencies of the US Government, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued its Final Rule on regulations that will govern commercial spaceflight.

Operators of launch and reentry vehicles who provided comments to the agency include:

• Blue Origin, LLC (Blue Origin)
• The Personal Spaceflight Federation 2 (Federation)
• Rocketplane Limited, Inc. (Rocketplane)
• TGV Rockets, Inc.
• XCOR Aerospace (XCOR)

The following associations, individuals and service providers also commented: Airline Pilots Association International (ALPA); Association of Space Explorers-USA (ASE), International Association of Space Entrepreneurs and Institute for Space Law and Policy (IASE and ISLAP); Knutson & Associates, Attorneys at Law (Knutson); Nickolaus Leggett (Leggett); Planehook Aviation Services, LLC (Planehook); Predesa, LLC (Predesa) and James Snead.

In general, the commenters supported the proposed requirements announced in August, but with several suggested changes.

In its final rule, the FAA changes parts 401, 415, 431, 435 and 440 of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and establishes a new part 460 in response to the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 (CSLAA) requirement to issue regulations governing crew and space flight participant, by June 23, 2006.

Part 460 applies to anyone applying for or having a license or permit under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Chapter III, who conducts a flight with crew or space flight participants onboard a vehicle, or employs a remote operator of a vehicle with a human on board. This part also applies to a space flight participant or crew member participating in an activity authorized under 14 CFR Chapter III.

The new Part 460 also defines crew and flight crew and imposes notification, medical, qualification, and training requirements. It also specifies informed consent and training requirements for space flight participants.

The FAA originally stated all pilots of commercial spaceflight vehicles would be required to hold an instrument rating. The industry responded, however, that in many cases that requirement may not be enough. Some companies suggested those requirements be should be made more restrictive -- like requiring all spacecraft pilots to be test pilots, for example.

Other companies said that for their operations, however -- such as automated launch operations that return to Earth under a parachute, where no actual "piloting" would actually take place -- that requirement might be too restrictive.

The Final Rule also clarifies the definition and requirements for pilots controlling a spacecraft by remote control -- essentially, for personnel at Mission Control facilities.

The document is 31 pages long... and contains enough government-speak to satisfy the most ardent bureaucrat. But it's well worth the time to read it... after all, these rules are what many of us hope will govern our own flights to the stars, someday!

FMI: Read The Full Document (.pdf)