Mojave company about to take off
FAA issues first ever license for manned suborbital rocket flights
Staff and wire reports
Posted: Wednesday April 7th, 2004, 10:40 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday April 7th, 2004, 11:16 PM
WASHINGTON -- An aerospace company based in Kern County made history
Wednesday when it was issued a federal license for a manned suborbital
rocket -- the first such license ever issued.
Advocates of the commercial development of space flight say the government's
granting of the license was a crucial step toward opening manned space
flight to private individuals for the first time.
The Federal Aviation Administration gave a one-year license to Scaled Composites, based at Mojave Airport. The company was founded in 1982 by Burt Rutan, who is best known for designing the Voyager aircraft that made the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world in 1986.
"This is a big step," FAA spokesman Henry Price said.
The Scaled Composites craft consists of a sleek rocket plane, dubbed SpaceShipOne, and the White Knight, an exotic jet designed to carry it aloft for a high-altitude launch. SpaceShipOne, made of graphite and epoxy, has short wings and twin vertical tails. It exceeded the sound barrier and reached an altitude of 68,000 feet, nearly 13 miles high, in a trial flight in December.
Officials at Scaled Composites declined to comment Wednesday, but in a previous news release, they said a primary goal of the company is to prove that "low-cost space access is feasible." Supersonic flight, a spokeswoman asserted, "is now the domain of a small company doing privately funded research, without government help."
The federal license is a prerequisite for the X Prize competition, an international space race that will give $10 million to the first company or person to launch a manned craft 62.5 miles above the Earth, and then do it again within two weeks. The craft must be able to carry three people.
Rick Searfoss, a former NASA space shuttle commander who makes his home in Tehachapi, said Wednesday's action represents a milestone on the path to the privatization of space flight.
Searfoss is a passionate advocate for opening space to private enterprise, but he's also a chief judge for the X Prize competition. As such, he said he must remain neutral until a winner is determined.
But time is running out.
"The X Prize goes away if no one wins it before the first of next year," Searfoss said. "It's got to be done this calendar year."
Meanwhile, the FAA is considering two other applications, Price said.
One is an X Prize contestant.
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