I guess he’s figured out, for whatever reason, that he’d better get with the program and apply for a launch license.
To help enable future space tourism, Rutan is willing to work with AST on developing certification standards for manned reusable spacecraft, which don’t exist today, he said.
Translation: I don’t want to deal with this new regulatory environment that I don’t understand, but my funding is based on winning the X-Prize, and they’re apparently so close minded that they’ll disqualify me if I won’t play ball.
He believes such vehicles should be certified like aircraft, to protect passengers and people on the ground.
Yes, that’s nice, Burt, but you don’t want to pay the costs of certification, and there’s no certification regime for space vehicles, so what are you gonna do…?
However, “our program has nothing to do with certification,” Rutan said. “We’re not going to be certifying SpaceShipOne and offering rides in it. I’m in the business of just doing the research and development flight testing.”
Oh, I see. You just want to continue to play your little game of having it both ways.
Anyway, I’m glad that you finally came to your senses, for whatever reason.