From: henry@spsystems.net   
      
   In article ,   
   Eric Pederson  <"Zeric.a.pedersonZ"@ZboeingZ.comZ.deZ.to.respond.retro.com>   
   wrote:   
   >For US based teams, FAA reg's would be a problem for this proposal.  The   
   >spacecraft would now be operating as a powered aircraft for a significant   
   >portion of the flight (SS1 is classified as a glider).   
      
   For FAA purposes, now that it's started doing powered flights with long   
   burns, SS1 is a suborbital rocket, not an airplane of any type.  It flies   
   under a launch licence.   
      
   There is no particular difficulty with suborbital rockets which take off   
   under power from the ground.  XCOR holds a launch licence for such a   
   design (not yet built).   
   --   
   "Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer   
                                   -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net   
      
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