Scaled Composites has filed an application with the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, known as AST, to obtain a launch license for the first suborbital space flight of SpaceShipOne.

Company founder Burt Rutan said he still hopes his reusable spacecraft will not have to be licensed like a rocket.

"We don't believe that it's appropriate or necessary to do a launch license for a research airplane," Rutan told The DAILY. "Those rules are structured around a conventional, vertical-launch [vehicle] - things that are more like a Delta than ... SpaceShipOne."

Unveiled in April, SpaceShipOne is designed to carry a pilot and two passengers to the fringe of space, then glide unpowered to an airport landing. The White Knight aircraft serves as the launcher, releasing SpaceShipOne at 50,000 feet (DAILY, April 21).

AST is responsible for licensing commercial space launches or re-entries that could pose a threat to people or property. The office calculates maximum probable loss (MPL) estimates in the event of a failure, including loss of life, which in turn guides the insurance process.

Scaled Composites filed its license application late last week, according to Chuck Kline, special assistant for external affairs at AST. According to law, AST has 180 days from receipt of a complete application to grant a license.

"This is a first for us - to be licensing a reusable launch vehicle," Kline told The DAILY. Nonetheless, "we're aware of the schedule [Rutan] is trying to achieve, and we're optimistic that we can meet that." The expected date for the first space flight attempt is by mid-December, Kline said. He anticipates no "showstoppers" during the licensing process.

"It's a limited area and a small vehicle," he said. "Our risk analyses take that into account. Obviously the stakes are a lot higher for, say, an Atlas V with hundreds of thousands of pounds of fuel."

Meanwhile, Rutan has asked FAA Administrator Marion Blakey for a new interpretation of existing regulations, to determine whether SpaceShipOne really needs a launch license. He said he expects ultimately to be able to fly the vehicle under an experimental airworthiness certificate, or possibly under an Air Force contract (DAILY, June 19).