Slashdot Mirror
Private Spaceflight Law Shot Down
wiggles writes "MSNBC says that bill HR3752, which allows private, suborbital tourist flights, has died. We'll have to wait until next year for this one. According to the article, 'The bill would have put private-sector suborbital spaceflights on much firmer regulatory footing. It was approved overwhelmingly by the House back in March but languished in the Senate for months.'"
That reminds me of a funny (somewhat apocraphal) space-flight puking story.
For one NASA flight, a frog was brought along on a mission for research testing, and as soon as they entered a zero-G environment, the frog not only puked, but actually inverted it's entire actual stomach outside of it's mouth, wiped the stomach walls clean with it's little front feet in a frenzied panic, and then shoved the stomache back down it's throat. After that, the it was fine.
There have been many times, particularilly after drinking tequila, in which I wished I was capable of doing that.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
"There are no laws preventing commercial space flight."
No, it's been regulated by the FAA since 1991. This bill would have just changed the regulations a bit. In any event this is still suborbital flight we're talking about.
You don't need the US's permission to go to space. You need US permission to get there through US airspace.