Scaled Composites Gets First-Ever Manned Launch Permit | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-09.29.25

AirborneNextGen-
09.30.25

Airborne-Unlimited-10.01.25

Airborne-Unlimited-09.25.25

AirborneUnlimited-09.26.25

Thu, Apr 08, 2004

Scaled Composites Gets First-Ever Manned Launch Permit

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.

FMI: www.scaled.com, www.faa.gov

Advertisement

More News

Ticket Sales NOW OPEN for 2025 Affordable Flying Expo!

Check out https://affordableflying.net/attend/ Right Away and Get YOUR Tickets To the Affordable Flying Expo! OK.... with a little over a month to go, it’s time to get seriou>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (09.29.25)

"Amelia made it almost three-quarters of the way around the world before she suddenly, and without notice, vanished—never to be seen again. Her disappearance, almost 90 years>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (09.29.25)

Aero Linx: Cessna 150-152 Club The Cessna 150-152 Club has been the go-to place for information about the care and operation of the World’s Most Popular Two-Place Airplane si>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (09.29.25): Hover Taxi

Hover Taxi Used to describe a helicopter/VTOL aircraft movement conducted above the surface and in ground effect at airspeeds less than approximately 20 knots. The actual height ma>[...]

Airborne 09.26.25: Army Cuts AV-Ranks, 2025 ATC Hiring, AF Next-Gen Fighter

Also: Purdue In Space?, 4 SpecOps Lost In Helo Crash, Solid-Fuel Ramjet, Ultra-High Airspace Over FL The US Army recently confirmed its plans to thin out its active duty aviation r>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC