WE MOVED TO http://www.XPrizeNews.org
ANSARI X PRIZE Space Race News!

 
More on SpaceShip One launch license (updated)
MSNBC has the story as well:
The Federal Aviation Administration’s Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST) has given license approval to Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, permitting the firm to expand flight testing of SpaceShipOne  -- a privately-financed rocket plane to carry passengers to suborbital altitude...
Charles Kline, Jr., Special Assistant for FAA/AST External Affairs confirmed to SPACE.com that a launch license had been issued April 1: "We have issued a launch license today to Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites."
Read More

This license will let Scaled Composites engage in engine firings longer than the 15 seconds used in the December "Wright Brothers Centennial" test, in which SpaceShip One surpassed the speed of sound for the first time.

Update:
The FAA has posted the press release online, and the AP has the story with quotes from FAA spokesman Henry Miller: FAA inspectors carefully examined the space vehicle to make sure it's safe, said Price.

"There's no sure thing in anything when it comes to rocketry," he said. "We want to do what we can with the knowledge we have to make sure the launch is as safe as possible for the public."
Read More.

posted by The Driver @ 4/07/2004 08:41:00 PM