There are no ejection seats, these being judged too heavy, complex and expensive. To bail out, the front hatch is cranked open to fall away and the crew climbs out, Rutan said.

*** Bravo! Maybe the incessant whining for ultra-safety complex (and heavy) ejection systems for the shuttle and its succesors will die down.

Rutan pointed out that there was no government involvement in this project. "I believe the government is the reason it's unaffordable to fly into space. We didn't want them to know; their 'help' causes cost problems." Two weeks ago he briefed his congressman, the FAA Commercial Space Transportation office and USAF space officials at the Pentagon and Edwards AFB about Tier One.

*** "No government involvement" Translates as done at 1 tenth the cost or less. Gotta love the comment re 'help'.

After the end of the funded program, Rutan would like to fly once a week to 100 km. for five months to discover operational issues and gauge recurring costs. He doesn't know if this will happen. His current guess is that costs would be under $80,000 per flight. But he can't charge for rides because the aircraft are not FAA-certified. Rutan guesses certification would cost $100-300 million--"How can you amortize that?" he asks. "I'm not interested in certifying it, but I'd supply parts to someone who is." Marketing studies show there would be thousands of people who would pay $100,000 for a suborbital ride, but a tourist craft would need at least 6-8 seats and more windows to be economical.

*** Ah yes govt regs and lawyers. How we ever got as far as we have is a wonder.

"I want to do something different and fun, and show it can be cheap," Rutan said. "The next step is unknown now. Going to orbit has been done before. Maybe go to the Moon or planets. Maybe a figure eight around the Moon."

*** Bleepin' A, Bubba!

-p