While the idea of space tourism is appealling, I wonder how the feds are going to treat vehicles like the White Knight and SpaceShipOne. If they're treated as experimental aircraft, then they can't carry passengers for hire. The only conpensation allowed would be for direct operating expenses or for vehicle checkout flights (as in training new pilots).

Perhaps the show could treat the prize the same as someone winning a ride on an experimental aircraft, like a homebuilt. On the other hand, if the feds insist that the vehicles be certificated before carrying passengers (especially paying passengers), then the costs will be enormous (I had to bite my tongue to avoid the pun "skyrocket.")

Under existing FAA regulations, both the White Knight and SpaceShipOne would have to be certificated, as well as their engines and avionics. The White Knight uses engines from a T-38 trainer. The core of those engines was certified years ago, but the military version with afterburners was never certified. The engine on SpaceShipOne would cost a lot to get certified, too. The avionics on both vehicles were custom built (I've met the man who made them) and it would cost quite a bit to get them approved. Then there's the cost of certifying both aircraft. Based on what it takes to get even a simple private plane through the certification process, I'd give a ballpark estimate of at least $100 million to certify the vehicles. Certifying even a simple plane like the Liberty XL2 took years and cost millions of dollars.

Of course, there is a possibility that the FAA would see these as a different category of vehicle than ordinary aircraft, but history suggests that they would require a very expensive certification process before allowing paying passengers. There is also the possibility that if the plane were taken to a country with less restrictive regulations, say Costa Rica, then certification wouldn't be required.