According to the profile of Burt on "60 Minutes" last Sunday, parts of SpaceShipOne reached 1000 degrees during the reentry. Whatever Burt used for thermal protection, it was adequate to the job because no damage was found on the vehicle and it could be turned around for a new mission in a few days. Not too shabby!

From what I understand about RASCAL, Burt is building the mothership for that. It's supposed to hit something like Mach 3+ then do a zoom climb to about 180,000 feet. I wonder if Burt is going to use his "shuttlecock" mode for the descent on that vehicle, too. It might not be necessary since it won't go nearly so high as SpaceShipOne.