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THE EMERGING COMMERCIAL SUBORBITAL 

REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE MARKET 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2012 

Serial No. 112–101 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

HON. RALPH M. HALL, Texas, Chair 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., 

Wisconsin 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia 

SANDY ADAMS, Florida 

BENJAMIN QUAYLE, Arizona 

CHARLES J. ‘‘CHUCK’’ FLEISCHMANN, 

Tennessee 

E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia 

STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

ANDY HARRIS, Maryland 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

CHIP CRAVAACK, Minnesota 

LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana 

DAN BENISHEK, Michigan 

VACANCY 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

BRAD MILLER, North Carolina 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

BEN R. LUJA ́ N, New Mexico 

PAUL D. TONKO, New York 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

HANSEN CLARKE, Michigan 

SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon 

VACANCY 

VACANCY 

VACANCY 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS

HON. STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi, Chair 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR., 

Wisconsin 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

SANDY ADAMS, Florida 

E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

HANSEN CLARKE, Michigan 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 

Page 

Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 

Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 

Opening Statements 

Statement by Representative Steven M. Palazzo, Chair, Subcommittee on 

Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. 

House of Representatives .................................................................................... 10 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 11 

Statement by Representative Donna F. Edwards, Ranking Minority Member, 

Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, Space, 

and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ............................................... 11 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 12 

Witnesses: 

Ms. Carissa Christensen, Managing Partner, The Tauri Group 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 13 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 15 

Dr. Alan Stern, Chairman, Suborbital Applications Researchers Group 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 29 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 31 

Mr. George Whitesides, CEO and President, Virgin Galactic LLC 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 40 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 42 

Mr. Bretton Alexander, Director, Business Development and Strategy, Blue 

Origin 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 47 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 49 

Mr. Andrew Nelson, Chief Operating Officer, XCOR Aerospace 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 54 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 56 

Dr. Stephan R. McCandliss, Research Professor, The Johns Hopkins University 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 66 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 68 

Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions 

Ms. Carissa Christensen, Managing Partner, The Tauri Group ......................... 88 

Dr. Alan Stern, Chairman, Suborbital Applications Researchers Group ............ 93 

Mr. George Whitesides, CEO and President, Virgin Galactic LLC ..................... 96 

Mr. Bretton Alexander, Director, Business Development and Strategy, Blue 

Origin .................................................................................................................... 99 

Mr. Andrew Nelson, Chief Operating Officer, XCOR Aerospace ......................... 107 

Dr. Stephan R. McCandliss, Research Professor, The Johns Hopkins University ......................................................................................................................... 115 

(1) 

THE EMERGING COMMERCIAL SUBORBITAL 

REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE MARKET 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2012 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS, 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, 

Washington, D.C. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:24 p.m., in Room 

2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Steven Palazzo 

[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 
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Chairman PALAZZO. The Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics 

will come to order. Good afternoon and welcome to today’s hearing 

entitled, ‘‘The Emerging Commercial Suborbital Reusable Launch 

Vehicle Market.’’ 

In front of you are packets containing the written testimony, biographies, and truth in testimony disclosure for today’s witness 

panel. 

I recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement. 

I would like to thank our many witnesses for agreeing to testify 

before our Subcommittee. I know that considerable effort goes into 

your preparation, and I want to thank you for taking the time to 

appear today to share your knowledge with us. 

Today’s hearing will look at the emerging commercial suborbital 

reusable launch vehicle market. Suborbital vehicles can cross the 

thresholds of space and travel to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, typically above 62 miles for brief periods of time but not 

orbit the earth. Our hearing will provide an opportunity to receive 

testimony from researchers, market analysts, and some of the companies that are vying to build the vehicles to compete in this 

emerging marketplace. 

We are going to learn about a newly-released ten-year forecast 

of market demand. Many in the research community are hopeful to 

exploit the unique microgravity environment of suborbital flight 

with economical, routine access that enables expanded human research, atmospheric research and microgravity biological and physical research. 

Space tourism proponents are optimistic that a safe operational 

system will be developed to support their business ambitions, yet 

there are significant technical, financial, and regulatory challenges 

to be overcome before these hopes can be realized. Companies can 

perform test flights with an experimental permit from the FAA but 

cannot sell their services and become full-fledged commercial entities without first obtaining an FAA launch and reentry license. 

In addition, current law prohibits the FAA from issuing regulations on human spaceflight until October, 2015. Until then the FAA 

will engage with the industry participants who can share their 

views on how to improve safety without proposing burdensome regulations. 

I encourage industry to work closely with the FAA so that they 

will be able to draft effective regulations in 2015, and diminish the 

chance that these regulations will stifle the industry. 

I look forward to hearing from our experts about their plans to 

develop a profitable and sustainable business. It is my hope they 

will be successful bringing these new markets into the mainstream, 

recognizing that the commercial suborbital launch vehicle business 

faces significant technical challenges as new designs are introduced. I am optimistic they will perform safely and profitably while 

reducing costs and increasing the quality of suborbital research. 

We have a lot of ground to cover today. I want to thank our witnesses again. I look forward to today’s discussion. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Palazzo follows:] 
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PREPARED STATEMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN STEVEN M. PALAZZO

Good afternoon and welcome to today’s hearing. I would like to thank our many 

witnesses for agreeing to testify before our Subcommittee. I know that considerable 

effort goes into your preparation, and I want to thank you for taking the time to 

appear today to share your knowledge with us. 

Today’s hearing will look at the emerging commercial sub-orbital reusable launch 

vehicle market. Suborbital vehicles can cross the thresholds of space and travel in 

the upper reaches of the atmosphere, typically above 62 miles for brief periods of 

time, but not orbit the Earth. Our hearing will provide an opportunity to receive 

testimony from researchers, market analysts, and some of the companies that are 

vying to build the vehicles to compete in this emerging marketplace. We’re also 

going to learn about a newly released 10-Year Forecast of Market Demand. 

Many in the research community are hopeful to exploit the unique microgravity 

environment of suborbital flight with economical, routine access that enables expanded human research, atmospheric research, and microgravity biological and 

physical research. Space tourism proponents are optimistic that a safe, operational 

system will be developed to support their business ambitions. Yet there are significant technical, financial, and regulatory challenges to be overcome before these 

hopes can be realized. 

Companies can perform test flights with an ‘‘experimental permit’’ from the FAA, 

but cannot sell their services and become full-fledged commercial entities without 

first obtaining an FAA launch and reentry license. In addition, current law prohibits 

the FAA from issuing regulations on human spaceflight until October 2015. Until 

then, the FAA will engage with industry participants who can share views on how 

to improve safety without proposing burdensome regulations. I encourage industry 

to work closely with the FAA, so that they will be able to draft effective regulations 

in 2015, and diminish the chance that these regulations will stifle the industry. 

I look forward to hearing from our experts about their plans to develop a profitable and sustainable business. It is my hope they will be successful bringing these 

new markets into the mainstream, recognizing that the commercial suborbital 

launch vehicle business faces significant technical challenges as new designs are introduced. I’m optimistic they will perform safely and profitably while reducing costs 

and increasing the quality of suborbital research. 

We have a lot of ground to cover today. I want to thank our witnesses again, and 

I look forward to today’s discussion. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize Ms. Edwards for her opening statement. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I will be brief. I 

also join you in thanking the witnesses and also thanking them for 

their patience. Sometimes our schedules are a little bit unpredictable, but I want to welcome all of our witnesses because I anticipate that this is going to be a really interesting and informative 

hearing on the emerging commercial suborbital transportation market. 

And Mr. Chairman, this Subcommittee has been heavily involved 

in commercial space transportation issues, including suborbital systems. It is also clear that developing commercial suborbital systems 

has been a challenging undertaking. At a 2003 joint House/Senate 

hearing on commercial space transportation, companies predicted 

that commercial suborbital flights could be anticipated as early as 

2006. A few years later at a hearing held by this Subcommittee in 

April, 2005, an industry representative estimated that service could 

begin in 2008 or 2009. 

Based on the prepared statements provided by the industry witnesses, I am encouraged by the progress that is being made by 

competing designs, and I look forward to continuing accomplishments. I would like to also better understand what challenges this 

emerging industry has encountered in getting to where it is today 

and what hurdles remain. 
12 

And further, I hope to hear from our witnesses on what challenges have been overcome, what opportunities lie ahead, the potential impacts on NASA research activities, and what steps will be 

needed to ensure that this can be done safely, and I would add to 

that what it is that this Congress needs to do to ensure your success. 

And so thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the balance 

of my time. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Edwards follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF RANKING MINORITY MEMBER DONNA F. EDWARDS

Good afternoon. I’d like to join the Chairman in welcoming our witnesses to what 

I anticipate will be an interesting and informative hearing on the emerging commercial suborbital transportation market. 

Mr. Chairman, this Subcommittee has been heavily involved in commercial space 

transportation issues, including the suborbital systems. 

It is clear that developing commercial suborbital systems has been a challenging 

undertaking. At a 2003 joint House-Senate hearing on commercial space transportation, companies predicted that commercial suborbital flights could be anticipated 

as early as 2006. A few years later, at a hearing held by this Subcommittee in April 

2005, an industry representative estimated that service could begin in 2008 or 2009. 

Based on the prepared statements provided by the industry witnesses, I am encouraged by the progress being made by competing designs, and I look forward to 

continued accomplishments. I would like to better understand what challenges this 

emerging industry has encountered in getting to where it is today, and what hurdles 

remain. 

Further, I hope to hear from our witnesses on what challenges have been overcome, what opportunities lie ahead, the potential impacts on NASA research activities, and what steps will be needed to ensure that this can all be done safely. 

Thank you and I yield back the balance of my time. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Ms. Edwards. If there are Members who wish to submit additional opening statements, your statements will be added to the record at this point. 

At this time I would like to introduce our panel of witnesses, and 

then we will proceed to hear from each of them in order. 

Our first witness is Ms. Carissa Christensen, a Founder and 

Managing Partner of the Tauri Group, an analytic consulting firm 

based in Alexandria, Virginia. Ms. Christensen is a recognized expert with over 25 years of experience in analysis of space systems, 

industry economics, regulatory requirements, and underlying demand. 

Our next witness is Dr. Alan Stern. Dr. Stern is an Associate 

Vice President of the Southwest Research Institute, and in 2011 

was appointed Director of the Florida Space Institute. Dr. Stern is 

the Principle Investigator of NASA’s Pluto Kuiper Belt Mission, 

and in 2000 and 2008, he served as the Associate Administrator of 

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. 

Our next witness is Mr. George Whitesides, the CEO and President of Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company founded by Sir 

Richard Branson. Prior to Virgin Galactic Mr. Whitesides served as 

Chief of Staff of the current NASA Administrator and before that 

as Executive Director of the National Space Society. 

Our next witness is Mr. Bretton Alexander, Director of Business 

Development and Strategy for Blue Origin, a developer of human 

spaceflight systems founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos. Prior to 

that Mr. Alexander was the Chair of the Commercial Space Committee of the NASA Advisory Council. Since 2008, Mr. Alexander 
13 

has served as a member of the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, COMSTAC. 

Our next witness is Mr. Andrew Nelson, Chief Operating Officer 

and Vice President of Business Development for XCOR Aerospace. 

Mr. Nelson originated the space vehicle wet lease concept that is 

at the heart of XCOR’s market strategy. Prior to XCOR Mr. Nelson 

spent approximately 15 years in the aerospace sector and a total 

of nine years with two Wall Street firms; Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. 

The last witness on our panel, Dr. Stephan McCandliss, is a Research Professor at the John Hopkins University, Department of 

Physics and Astronomy and is currently Principle Investigator of a 

Sounding Rocket Program. Since coming to the John Hopkins University, he has launched 15 sounding rocking borne for UV 

spectroscopic instruments. Dr. McCandliss has been Principle Investigator and Co-Investigator on several NASA grants to develop 

space mission technologies and served as a member of NASA’s 

Sounding Rocket Working Group from 1999 to 2003. 

Welcome to you all. 

As our witnesses should know, spoken testimony is limited to 

five minutes each. After all witnesses have spoken, Members of the 

Committee will have five minutes each to ask questions. 

I now recognize our first witness, Ms. Christensen, for five minutes. 

STATEMENT OF MS. CARISSA CHRISTENSEN, 

MANAGING PARTNER, THE TAURI GROUP 

Ms. CHRISTENSEN. Chairman Palazzo, Congresswoman Edwards, 

Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify 

today on emerging markets for suborbital reusable vehicles. On a 

personal note, it is an honor to be part of this, and to be testifying 

today. I spent my career in commercial space, and I am delighted 

that Congress is interested in this important subject. 

My firm, The Tauri Group, recently completed a six month study 

to forecast ten-year demand for suborbital reusable vehicles or 

SRVs. The FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation and 

Space Florida jointly funded the study. 

Our purpose was to develop an objective and rigorous forecast of 

SRV demand and market dynamics. Equally importantly, we 

sought to identify the ways current realities could change, positively or negatively, in order to help decision makers understand 

and manage future outcomes. Our research and analysis-focused 

process included 120 interviews assessing budgets, market studies, 

and other data and surveying more than 200 high net-worth individuals who can afford current prices for suborbital flights. 

We used this data to develop our forecast and to describe future 

uncertainties and our assumptions about them. My testimony describes results of that study. 

Our study concluded that demand for SRV flights at current 

prices is genuine, sustained, and appears sufficient to support multiple providers. We estimate baseline demand, reflecting predictable trends that exist today, at about 400 to 500 seat equivalents 

each year, for people and for cargo. Our growth scenario sees that 

number nearly triple. Our constrained scenario sees it halved. Ad-
14 

ditional potential demand is possible from unknowns such as research discoveries, commercial applications, or a viral consumer response. Price reductions would also increase demand. 

The largest market by far in our analysis is commercial human 

spaceflight for individuals. We estimate it at more than 80 percent 

of the total. Given current prices most of these individuals will be 

wealthy. Many will be from outside the United States. 

These individuals enable a new SRV industry with capabilities 

that can benefit researchers, educators, and others. 

Specifically, we identified five additional markets active in our 

ten-year forecast period. Basic and applied research, aerospace 

technology test and demonstration, satellite deployment, education, 

and media and public relations. Our baseline for these markets 

shows initial demand for about 30 seat equivalents that grows to 

130 annually. Our constrained scenario grows more slowly, and our 

growth scenario increases to nearly 400 seat equivalents, representing thousands of payloads. 

As of this moment purchases of SRV services in most of these 

markets have already begun. 

SRVs have unique capabilities for basic and applied research. We 

identified currently funded research areas that are better served by 

SRVs than by existing alternatives. We predicted some of the funding in these areas would shift to SRVs. These areas are atmospheric research of the poorly understood upper reaches of the atmosphere that affect weather and climate, suborbital astronomy to 

get access to infrared and ultraviolet observations from outside the 

atmosphere, longitudinal human research on space travelers to understand things like vascular and immune response to microgravity 

and acceleration, and microgravity research where the unique combination of SRV capabilities may energize the research community 

and attract new organizations. 

SRVs can also be used for test and demonstration of certain 

types of technology, and may also serve as launchers for small satellites, which are increasingly used for research. 

Finally, our analysis suggests SRVs may be widely used for 

STEM education. Student-built projects can fly to space and return, 

frequent launches aligned with academic calendars, and schools 

can likely afford SRV prices for small payloads. Based on analogous 

hands-on STEM programs, we estimate that after ten years as 

many as 600 K through 12 schools and more than 100 universities 

could be flying small student payloads. 

SRVs will create a different kind of space transportation industry 

than we have seen before. This space marketplace will be heavily 

influenced by individual consumers with government potentially 

around a tenth of total demand. An important regulatory challenge 

is developing an effective approach for these unprecedented new 

dynamics. 

In closing, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak 

today, and I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Christensen follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I now recognize Dr. Stern for 

five minutes to present his testimony. 

STATEMENT OF DR. ALAN STERN, CHAIRMAN, 

SUBORBITAL APPLICATIONS RESEARCHERS GROUP 

Dr. STERN. Thank you. Chairman Palazzo, Congresswoman Edwards, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you again for the 

opportunity to meet with you today. 

I am a planetary scientist, and I have used suborbital sounding 

rockets since the 1980s. I have been a Principle Investigator on numerous NASA missions, and I served, as you said, as Associate Administrator responsible for the Science Mission Directorate at 

NASA headquarters. I am the current Chairman of the Commercial 

Spaceflight Federation’s SARG or Suborbital Applications Researchers Group. 

Mr. Chairman, in 1946 when the U.S. Army formed its rocket research panel to determine how researchers could best exploit the 

capabilities of captured German V–2 rockets, only a tiny fraction 

of the Nation’s scientists were aware of the powerful impact that 

suborbital rockets could have on their research. After all, few scientists of that era had ever before had access to space launch capability of any kind. 

Yet barely a decade later rocket borne research had become so 

powerful a tool that it formed the centerpiece of 1957’s landmark 

International Geophysical Year. 

In 2012, the space research and education communities and large 

parts of NASA and other federal research agencies are similarly 

unaware of the powerful opportunities that the new reusable suborbital vehicles can offer for education and for research. Today’s 

analogies to V–2s in 1946 are strong. 

Early adopters like myself see transformational promise in these 

vehicles, primarily because they offer frequent access to space at 

low cost. Indeed, within a few years this industry is likely to provide the capability to fly hundreds to perhaps thousands of experiments annually and to do so at typical payload launch costs that 

are ten times or more lower than the 1 to $2 million present day 

sounding rocket costs. 

These vehicles also offer other important benefits. For example, 

gentler rides for payloads than on suborbital sounding rockets, reducing design costs, the development of market-driven, simple, 

rapid payload safety integration processes that lower barriers to 

entry for scientists and universities and corporations. The opportunity to fly larger payloads than we could normally fly on a sounding rocket, reduced experiment waiting times to flight going to the 

high-flight rates, and very importantly the opportunity to fly researchers and educators with their payloads. 

This capability is another game changer that will reduce experiment development costs and increase experiment reliability by 

eliminating the need for expensive experiment automation that has 

for too long been commonplace in space as a substitute for the researcher or the educator being able to be there themselves as in 

most scientific disciplines. 

These new vehicles offer something else that is also both new 

and revolutionary. That is the routine stepping stone capability to 
30 

try out and develop research players and experimental techniques 

at low cost before they are brought up to the International Space 

Station. Just as in the minor leagues in baseball we try out players 

and techniques before advancing them to the majors. 

As a result of these numerous attractive attributes, I expect 

broad demand for commercial reusable suborbital vehicles in the 

following areas. Upper atmospheric research, space life sciences, 

technology testing for spaceflight, microgravity science, auroral, 

ionospheric, and space weather research, and an education and 

public outreach. 

As early evidence for the demand for these vehicles and what 

they are likely to generate in that demand, I point out that the 

number of scientists attending Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conferences has doubled in the past two years, from 

about 200 in 2010, to over 400 this year. Researchers and educators are already voting with their feet. 

What these communities could use now are more funding opportunities with NASA and other agencies to exploit the coming capabilities of these vehicles. 

And finally, let me say that the primary regulatory uncertainties 

that I foresee for these new vehicles are those that might limit 

their ability to achieve high flight rates at low costs and to fly researchers and educators on those flights. 

I urge you to minimize these and other regulatory burdens on 

this new and highly-promising American industry, and I thank you 

for your time and for inviting my views. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Stern follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I now recognize our next witness, Mr. Whitesides, for five minutes to present his testimony. 

STATEMENT OF MR. GEORGE WHITESIDES, 

CEO AND PRESIDENT, VIRGIN GALACTIC LLC 

Mr. WHITESIDES. Mr. Chairman, Congresswoman Edwards, and 

Members of the Subcommittee, I am honored to be here today. 

Virgin Galactic’s goal is to become the world’s first commercial 

space line. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into 

this business and into the American economy. Our prime contractor, Scaled Composites, has constructed our first space vehicles 

and is currently flight testing them as we prepare for commercial 

service. Our manufacturing joint venture, the Spaceship Company, 

is hard at work building our second vehicle set. Overall, this 

project has directly or indirectly employed over 1,000 people in the 

United States since its inception. 

As I continue my testimony, Mr. Chairman, with your permission 

I would like to share some video footage of our vehicles in flight, 

taken over California’s Mojave Air and Spaceport and New Mexico’s Spaceport America. 

Virgin Galactic was founded in 2004, to commercialize the technologies demonstrated by SpaceShipOne, the first privately-built 

vehicle to safely carry human beings into space. When it landed, 

it not only earned the $10 million X PRIZE and a spot in the Air 

and Space Museum, it also served as evidence that private entities 

are capable of building and operating spaceships that can carry humans both safely and affordably. To date, Mr. Chairman, we have accepted $70 million in deposits, representing over $100 million in future business. Those financials 

are important but so is a different measurement. As of last week 

we have accepted deposits from 536 individuals, which is more 

than the total number of people who have ever gone to space. We 

anticipate flying that many people within our first year or two of 

commercial service. 

Our system is proving to be an attractive platform for researchers and educators. Already we have accepted deposits from several 

customers in these areas, including universities as well as research 

institutions and from NASA itself. With a spacious cabin, relatively 

gentle gravity loads, frequent flights, affordable pricing, and a 

longer period of microgravity than many other platforms, we will 

offer an important tool to help innovators conduct significant 

science, advanced technology, and educate and inspire the next 

generation. 

We commend Congress and NASA for creating NASA’s Flight 

Opportunities Program, which is playing a critical role in assuring 

that experiments are ready to fly as soon as the spaceships themselves are in service. As we prepare for commercial service, staff 

at both Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites have been interacting with the FAA and in particular the Office of Commercial 

Space Transportation, or AST, for many years. We believe that the 

FAA and specifically AST are responsibly discharging their legislative accountabilities concerning suborbital spaceflight. 

Businesses like ours have a clear imperative to do all that we 

can to responsibly manage the risks associated with operating our 
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vehicles. In our case many of our staff, including myself, will fly 

on our spaceship before any member of the paying public, and our 

founder, Richard Branson, will be on our first commercial flight. 

Our team includes a number of professionals with deep expertise 

in safely operating aerospace vehicles. This includes our Vice President of Operations, Mike Moses, who was responsible for the preparation and launch of the Space Shuttle’s final 12 missions. Mike 

and other members of our team interact with AST on a regular 

basis, allowing for frank, two-way exchanges of information. 

In 2004, Congress determined that eight years of real flight data 

was a reasonable amount of time for a regulatory learning period, 

a value with the suborbital industry supported then and continues 

to support today. When it passed the most recent FAA Authorization Bill, the House of Representatives renewed the eight-year period. The Conference Bill extended the learning period for the scope 

of the FAA authorization itself, which runs until late 2015. 

We are pleased and appreciative that Congress took this action 

and look forward to working with both bodies of the legislature on 

the duration of this period in the next Congress. 

Moving forward, the regulatory uncertainty that has the biggest 

potential impact on our business is the concern that the learning 

period for our suborbital operations might be reduced. Already we 

are faced with the prospect that soon after we go into commercial 

operations, rules and regulations may change substantially, potentially disrupting those operations and our business. A stable regulatory environment is the best way to preserve America’s status as 

the world leader for suborbital spaceflight. 

In closing, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. As we all remember Sally Ride this week, 

an American hero and a pioneer who opened the space frontier to 

women, Virgin Galactic seeks to build on her legacy by opening the 

space frontier to all. I look forward to answering any questions you 

might have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Whitesides follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I now recognize our next witness, Mr. Alexander, for five minutes to present his testimony. 

STATEMENT OF MR. BRETTON ALEXANDER, 

DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 

AND STRATEGY, BLUE ORIGIN 

Mr. ALEXANDER. Thank you, Chairman Palazzo, Congresswoman 

Edwards, Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify this afternoon on behalf of Blue Origin. We appreciate the Committee’s longstanding support of the development of 

space and commercial human spaceflight. 

Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder of 

Amazon.com, with the sole purpose of developing technologies and 

vehicles to enable human access to space at dramatically lower 

costs and increased reliability. The ultimate goal is to enable more 

people to fly in space to be able to do more things, whether for 

science, exploration, or simply adventure travel. 

We believe in incremental development, beginning with suborbital vehicles before moving onto orbital systems. Our New 

Shepard suborbital system will take three or more astronauts to 

100 kilometers altitude where they will experience several minutes 

of microgravity, be able to see the darkness of space, and view the 

curvature of the earth. Key elements of this suborbital architecture, a reusable vehicle with vertical takeoff, vertical landing rocket, separable Crew Capsule with a pusher escape system, are also 

key elements of our orbital architecture designed to take people to 

low-earth orbit and the International Space Station. 

Let me now address the markets for suborbital spaceflight. First, 

we believe that people are the game-changing element for 

spaceflight. We can’t tell you all the activities that people will do 

in space, but we are certain the number of people and activities 

will increase greatly as the cost comes down and safety improves. 

Research and science is a valuable secondary market. We are 

poised to offer the research community flexible, repeated access to 

space on dramatically-accelerated timelines for a fraction of the 

cost. Research tools once limited to a few investigators will be within reach of a wide array of federal agencies, industry, and even college and high school students. 

These suborbital systems have significant promise for STEM 

education for our Nation’s youth, with routine flights, the ability 

for schools to tuck small, untended experiments and payloads along 

for the ride is within reach, giving hands-on space experience previously unimaginable. 

Other markets for suborbital spaceflight are likely to be developed that we cannot yet image. Who would have thought that ten 

years ago there would be over 500,000 apps for something called 

a smart phone? The barries to entry to develop an app is minimal. 

There is no need to spent billions on developing the network or the 

phone itself. Similarly, scientists, school kids, and others can develop apps for suborbital spaceflight at little to no upfront cost 

compared to traditional spaceflight activities. The sky is truly the 

limit. 

Let me now address the regulatory framework. Commercial 

spaceflight is in its infancy, and there is no one-size-fits-all ap-
48 

proach to regulation. Each company is developing a different system. Blue has a vertical takeoff, vertical landing vehicle with a capsule that returns under parachute. Others have vehicles with 

wings and wheels. What is appropriate for one type of vehicle may 

not be appropriate for others. 

The current question of how and when the FAA will regulate the 

safety of spaceflight participants is the greatest uncertainty affecting the development of this industry. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the passage last year of an extension of the 

learning period to the full eight years from the date of the first 

paying passenger flight as per the original intent of the CSOA. 

While the final bill extended this only until October, 2015, we appreciate Congress’s recognition that the learning period serves a 

valuable purpose and will work with you to extend the learning period to at least eight years or longer. 

We believe the best path forward would be to continue the informed consent approach indefinitely, allowing individuals to make 

their own decisions on how best to manage their own safety and 

inherent challenges of spaceflight. 

Regarding our interaction with the FAA and the development of 

regulations, there are two primary ways in which we interact with 

the FAA. The first is through the formal NPRM regulatory process, 

and the second is through our individual applications for permits 

and licenses and FAA oversight of our flight activity. We have 

found that on the whole both have worked well. The FAA has 

shown itself receptive to real world input as data is being gathered 

and flight activities continue. 

We look forward to the FAA’s planned monthly telecoms as an 

opportunity for dialogue between the FAA and industry, allowing 

for open and frank discussions about technical design and safety. 

In conclusion, we believe suborbital spaceflight offers great promise and opportunity for the Nation’s economy, scientific research, 

and STEM education. As private commercial developers, we are not 

looking just to government but are investing private funds to enable this bright future. NASA and other government agencies can 

capitalize on this private investment and take full advantage of 

these new capabilities. 

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today, and I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Alexander follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I now recognize our next witness, Mr. Nelson, for five minutes to present his testimony. 

STATEMENT OF MR. ANDREW NELSON, 

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, XCOR AEROSPACE 

Mr. NELSON. Thank you, Chairman Palazzo, Congresswoman Edwards, and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for this opportunity to speak about the reusable suborbital markets and how 

this industry can be a catalyst for new jobs and economic growth 

given an efficient government and appropriate regulatory stance. It 

is my belief that suborbital reusable launch vehicles are critical to 

America’s future innovation-led economy, the education of our children, and our national security because reusability is the transformative step needed for affordable and responsive space access, 

which is an enabler of these noble objectives. 

XCOR’s long-term vision of the future space industry starts with 

the premise that there are robust opportunities for self-sustaining, 

profitable space businesses in low-earth orbit and near-earth resource exploration. But numerous challenges must be solved to realize this vision, and failures will occur along the way. 

But free of regulatory uncertainty and excessive constraints, government can enable industry to once again embrace the risk-taking 

spirit that built our country. The potential payoff is similar to the 

railroads, the air transportation system, or the internet. In other 

words, the next great American-led trillion dollar enterprise, the 

commercial space enterprise. 

The first technical hurdles to overcome are fully reusable propulsion systems and thermal protection systems, and we believe suborbital RLVs are the ideal proving ground for these technologies. 

This has been XCOR’s focus for over 12 years, and it will continue. 

XCOR was founded by individuals who dreamt of going to space 

and pursue their dreams, giving up lucrative jobs in a lot nicer 

places than Mojave. In 1999, after they were laid off from an entrepreneur rocket adventure, they chose to follow the ethos that 

Henry David Thoreau expressed when he said, ‘‘Go confidently in 

the direction of your dreams and live the life you have imagined.’’ 

And in so doing have arguably created one of the most innovative 

and determined aerospace companies the U.S. has seen in the last 

50 years. 

We XCORians have pursued the American dream without benefit 

of great personal wealth but with significant determination and 

character, and we are now building reusable rocket engines for ourselves and others like United Launch Alliance, and we are building 

the Lynx for reusable suborbital vehicle that is scheduled to start 

flight tests in the new year. 

In two years XCOR and our partners have sold over 200 flights 

on the Lynx, and 50 of these sales have come in the last three 

months, demonstrating increasing sales velocity as we near first 

flight and the incumbent network effects you see in most markets. 

Our typical buyers have net investible assets of 1 to $2 million or 

more but many less wealthy enthusiasts are buying also, and many 

people are buying multiple flights. Industry and the research community are also buyers, and we project these markets to eventually 

surpass the personal spaceflight markets. 
55 

For over ten years XCOR has played a leading role within the 

industry by actively collaborating with the FAA. For example, we 

helped create the definition of suborbital rocket, was instrumental 

in crafting and leading the campaign to pass the first Commercial 

Space Launch Amendments Act in 2004, and XCOR has direct and 

productive contacts with FAA/AST staff in Southern California, 

Florida, Washington, DC, and elsewhere. We believe that Congress 

should enable the FAA to move more staff into the field where operations are occurring so we can facilitate the improvement in safety. 

In earlier testimony you heard others speak of the eight-year 

learning period, and we, too, support the restoration of full learning 

period starting with the first commercial suborbital human 

spaceflight for revenue. At the same time XCOR strongly supports 

a new FAA initiative to use its existing authority to engage with 

industry on safety concerns, experiences, and best practices. 

We are greatly concerned with the potential expiration of learning period because this could lead to unfettered regulation based on 

paper analysis and speculation rather than actual flight data and 

experience. Recent statements by at least one senior elected official 

have suggested the current licensing regime may be repealed in the 

final months of this Congress, and any sudden such changes or reliance on speculative regulations would have a chilling effect on the 

industry and the thousands of jobs we represent collectively and 

the jobs we plan on creating in the near future. 

So such a change would also cripple our chances to be competitive internationally. The industry and FAA have been successful in 

persuading foreign governments to consider adopting the U.S. system of regulation, licensing, and informed consent. Suddenly 

changing from this environment to a speculator regulatory regime 

will cause countries to forego the adoption of the U.S. system and 

create local rules, and local rules can create an uneven playing 

field for us in those foreign markets, impacting jobs in various 

states represented by the Members of the Committee. 

Another impediment to export markets is the U.S.-designed and 

built manned suborbital RLVs is the ITAR. Their strong international interests and demonstrated demand for suborbital RLVs, 

however, ITAR causes inherent uncertainty with customers which 

inhibit U.S. job creation. 

We encourage the Subcommittee to take a leadership role to explicitly identify manner suborbital RLVs as a Commerce Control 

List item and open up the free world to U.S. commercial space 

products, services, and competitors. 

I thank the Committee for the opportunity to present these 

thoughts for the record, and I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Nelson follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I now recognize our final witness, Dr. McCandliss, for five minutes to present his testimony. 

STATEMENT OF DR. STEPHAN R. MCCANDLISS, 

RESEARCH PROFESSOR, THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 

Dr. MCCANDLISS. Mr. Chairman, Congresswoman Edwards, and 

Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to answer 

your questions on suborbital research investigations regarding decision metrics, infrastructure, and capability requirements, student 

involvement, and future directions for suborbital research. 

Regarding the questions on decision metrics, I would like to point 

out that scientific peer review panels are for NASA are assembled 

by each of the four science divisions; geospace, heliophysics, planetary, and astrophysics to conduct research from suborbital platforms. 

Panels look for some way cool advancement of their scientific capabilities that is enabled by some new technology, and they seek 

to build a technically-adept workforce. Relevance to overall NASA 

strategic plan is a requirement. For heliophysics investigation that 

might be a new high resolution imager or for astrophysics it might 

be a device that can image planets about nearby stars. 

My own work, we are building a new high-efficiency far ultraviolet spectrograph that is six times more sensitive than anything 

we have flown before, and it can observe more than 40 targets at 

once in the area of the size of the moon. 

To pass the muster of the highly-oversubscribed peer review 

there has to be some capability of the chosen vehicle, usually the 

altitude, which provides the only way to do the research. If you can 

do it from the ground, you are not going to fly. 

Regarding suborbital infrastructure and capabilities, the commercially-operated launch provider, NSROC, run by orbital 

sciences, with oversight from the NASA Sounding Rocket Project 

Office, provides a staple of 11 different launch vehicles to experimenters picked by peer review, and they also provide a host of very 

mature modular subsystems to fly, to provide missile flight safety, 

de-spin and separation, high-speed telemetry, altitude control, recovery, fine point and command uplink for real time control of the 

payload. 

Experimenters have access to full integration and test facilities 

at Wallops in Virginia, including ground station, shaker table, spin 

balance, and moments of inertia measurements. In addition, the 

NSROC Sounding Rocket Project Office holds project management 

reviews, and all these things are necessary to ensure that things 

will be carried out safely. 

The message is one-size-doesn’t-fit-it, as we heard earlier. Some 

experimenters want to fly as high and as long as they can. Some 

want to fly tailored trajectories at specific altitudes. It all depends 

on the science. For our observations I require a vehicle that will 

provide 400 seconds of time above 100 kilometers with a precision 

real-time pointing system so the student can make target adjustments during flight. 

Student participation in sounding rocket research is a longstanding hallmark of the program. Some would argue it is the most 

important product. Students become an integral part of the science 
67 

and technology they develop. They work in an apprentice mentor 

relationship with senior researchers, where much know-how is 

passed on in oral form from one generation to the next much like 

a guild of old spaceship builders. And there is the slide example. 

In our astrophysics program we emphasize hands-on experience 

with optics, mechanics, electricity, magnetism, vacuum systems, 

computer programming, data acquisition, design, testing, calibration, integration, trouble shooting, mission planning, communication, and publication of results. Within the short tenure of a graduate student, they become scientists with a fundamental regard for 

systems engineering and are highly prized by the aerospace community. 

Many of the Ph.D. and undergraduate students go on to fill key 

roles in the development of instrumentation for a host of spacebased missions. However, as of late, excuse me. The number of 

sounding rocket students receiving Ph.D.’s has fallen as the displayed example shows. It is directly correlated with the decreasing 

number of lost opportunities over the past 40 years and symptomatic of a reduced production of technically-adept leadership. 

Regarding future challenges and opportunities, the challenge for 

developing reusable suborbital vehicles as meaningful research 

platforms will be to identify those appropriate niche markets, both 

commercial and scientific, where human-in-the-loop or an in-situ 

access module provides some unique capability that will pass the 

muster of the peer review. From my perspective the current crop 

of reusable vehicles on the books falls well short of our requirements. 

My astrophysics sounding rocket colleagues and I agree that generally new funding opportunities to advance the core capabilities of 

the expendable sounding rocket community are more likely to generate meaningful scientific, technical, and programmatic impact for 

future space-based missions run by NASA, DOD, and even private 

concerns. 

There is a logarithmic gap in the launch portfolio between the $3 

million it costs to develop a sounding rocket and $200 million it 

costs to launch an Explorer mission. The missing piece is a commercial launch capability in the $10 million range that is capable 

of placing 250 to 500 kilograms into low-earth orbit, Virgin Galactic 

Launcher-1, or the Falcon-1 from SpaceX. 

Establishing this capability can reduce risk and cost for future 

Explorer missions, Flagship missions, to reduce development times 

for increasing technology readiness levels, and most importantly, 

by expanding the technically-adept workforce. There is no substitute for experiment, experience. Expanding the suborbital program and filling the logarithmic gap in the launch portfolio is key 

to maintaining our leadership in space science. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. McCandliss follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, and I thank the panel for their 

testimony. 

I now recognize myself for five minutes for questions. 

My first question is pretty much a two-part question. It is going 

to be directed to Mr. Whitesides, Mr. Alexander, and Mr. Nelson. 

How does the SRV industry currently collaborate with the Federal Aviation Administration in developing draft guidance for test 

flights and current operations? And what is the proper role for industry in developing future regulations? 

Mr. NELSON. George and I have talked on so many panels together, I think we could probably finish our sentences a lot of 

times. So we collaborate with FAA on draft test flight processes 

and procedures much as the rest of the industry. It is important 

for us to have the integration of local staff so they can understand 

what we are planning to do. There is regular meetings and especially through the licensing process, they want to understand how 

our vehicle was built and designed, as well as how we are intent 

on testing it. 

Mr. ALEXANDER. I think I would like to add that we have got a 

very good working relationship with the FAA. Their staff are 

knowledgeable, but what they need is access to our plans and procedures, and that comes through that regulatory interaction 

through the process of applying for experimental permits and licenses and through the oversight of the activities that are regulated by the FAA. 

That interaction is the most important piece in terms of both understanding from industry’s side how things are operated but for 

the FAA to understand what is going on in the industry such that 

the industry provides a real education opportunity for them to see 

what is really going on. 

So the back and forth, in order to develop regulations later, to 

develop draft guidance, to develop test procedures and things like 

that, they need to see what is actually going on in industry, and 

it is through that application process that they get that back and 

forth. 

We do think that the FAA is setting up a monthly telecom to 

have a dialogue with industry. That is going to be another opportunity for industry collectively to interact with the FAA to talk 

about technical details. We think that that is going to be very valuable as well. 

Mr. WHITESIDES. Mr. Chairman, in the interest of time, I will 

leave it with them. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Nothing to add? Thank you, and this is pretty much for all you all again, so maybe you all decide who is going 

to go first. 

When will the companies begin commercial operations, and what 

type of flights will be the first to produce revenue for your company? 

Mr. WHITESIDES. Why don’t I start? Mr. Chairman, our goal is 

to start powered flight by roughly the end of the year and to go into 

commercial operation by the end of 2013. So we are looking at 

roughly an 18-month timeframe for the start of commercial operations. 
75 

We have always base lined starting flying with commercial customers with our customers who in some cases have been waiting 

to fly for several years. We have recently talked about inserting 

some of the NASA payloads that we have been contracted to fly 

earlier on. So that is in discussion, but our baseline is to start with 

our commercial customers. 

Mr. ALEXANDER. We are still in the development phase for our 

new Shepard suborbital flight system, and as we get deeper into 

our flight test program we will start accepting reservations and 

then having plans for when we first fly. We do think that passengers and scientific research will be the first revenue-generating 

activities. 

Mr. NELSON. We hope to commence our flight test program the 

end of this year, early next year with a flight test program that 

would end late 2013, and if things go as planned, so we will be at 

the end of 2013, flying paying participants. 

We do expect that there will be some science missions that are 

unmanned, that are automated that could be flown potentially earlier than that as well. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Ms. Christensen, your forecast paints a rosy 

picture for the future of this industry. Can you tell the Committee 

why we should believe there is a real market out there for these 

vehicles, and what is your level of confidence in the demand forecast? 

Ms. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, my objective in characterizing 

the industry, my team’s objective has been to be as data driven and 

accurate as possible. We are an independent firm. Our business 

model is to provide rigorous analysis. We have released a 100-page 

report that identifies the many, many dynamics of the market that 

we identified, the uncertainties, the assumptions that we have 

made, and where those assumptions might vary. 

I will note that our findings are very much aligned with a broad 

dataset derived from interviews and research, and we have laid 

that out as fully as possible. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I am out of time. 

I now recognize Ms. Edwards. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

As you know, I have been both a healthy skeptic of the industry 

and the potential but also quite curious, and I haven’t made it any 

great secret that I would want to be one of those, I want to be 

number 537 if there is room. It does seem to me that on a Congressional salary it is highly unlikely that I could afford the deposit. 

But it raises a question, Ms. Christensen, about the profile of the 

individuals who want to leave those deposits and fill out this industry because they are clearly high net-worth individuals because 

they have the financial capacity for that, but it seems to me that 

we are so accustomed to getting on boats and planes and our automobiles, and there is a comfort level attached to that, and this is 

somewhat different and experimental, and so what happens with 

those individuals that you think will fill out the industry if the 

flight itself doesn’t kind of meet that comfort zone for people who 

are not necessarily scientists and researchers but they just want to 

experiment a little bit? 
76 

Ms. CHRISTENSEN. We identified that question of how consumers, 

how spaceflight participants will actually respond to the experience 

as one of the major uncertainties that we are looking at. I can tell 

you that based on the survey that we did, and we focused on high 

net-worth individuals, most of those individuals viewed spaceflight 

as either extremely or somewhat inherently risky, and many of the 

individuals that were interested in taking suborbital flights had 

that view as well. 

So to the extent that that speaks to that question, that population does appear to have a sense that that is part of the—and we 

also in our survey articulated to them elements of the experience, 

such as what it might be like, both the positive and the, you know, 

you might feel ill, and so that was part of the process of informing 

survey respondents in getting their answers. 

Ms. EDWARDS. And Mr. Whitesides, if you could help me understand, in any of these sort of risky behaviors, there is a potential 

that there is a mishap that is going to happen. I mean, that happens with cars, and I wonder if your company or others have established any plan as to how you will conduct investigations or determine root causes should there be a mishap, and what do you think 

the relative role of the Federal Government should be in the event 

of such an occurrence? And I think, for example, of an agency like 

the National Transportation Safety Board. Is that something in 

terms of the Federal Government that we have to stand up to have 

some capacity for investigation that it doesn’t now have with respect to spaceflight? 

And I know that there is, there clearly is an expression of concern about a regulatory environment that might constrain development, but what is the right level of regulation that the Federal 

Government has to engage itself in, in order to oversee what is in 

essence a consumer-driven market? 

Mr. WHITESIDES. To start with the first question, Congresswoman, I think it is a great question, and the answer I think is 

that in terms of mishaps it depends on the type of mishap. So for 

very serious mishaps, the NTSB, I believe, will work with AST, and 

NTSB has assigned an investigator who is becoming proficient in 

essentially our sector. He has come out to Mojave, he has met with 

many of our companies, and I think I speak only for myself but I 

view him as really a very highly-skilled individual who seems to 

understand the issue. 

So that engagement has begun. I think AST also has its own set 

of plans and for a serious mishap we, I think, would obviously 

defer to the NTSB’s leadership of that investigation. 

For other mishaps, which frankly occur, lesser mishaps, you 

learn things continually through the flight test program, some of 

those I think the flight test team can handle themselves. They will 

just learn something. It is a minor issue, and that is the point of 

flight test is to improve the vehicles to the point that we are comfortable flying customers. 

Part of the reason that we have certainly taken many years to 

prepare these vehicles is because we have been in flight test for 

years, and we will not fly people on these vehicles until we feel 

comfortable that it is the time to do so. 
77 

I think in terms of your last question, I think the government 

and in particular the Science Committee, who essentially crafted 

the 2004 amendment to the CSLAA, developed the right posture for 

this moment of time, and I think we obviously support that at this 

time. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Mr. Chairman, if I could just ask a final question 

of Dr. McCandliss, and it actually has to do with the scientific environment. It is tough for me to imagine how you balance having a 

sort of sterile, more laboratory environment with also commercial 

passengers that satisfies the needs that scientists have to do research. Is that a concern of yours? 

Dr. MCCANDLISS. Yes. For our own purposes we require to be 

outside the cabin. So being inside the cabin would not be where I 

would want to be, I mean, we conduct research essentially in-situ. 

So it is incompatible really with the human spaceflight aspect. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Before moving on if I could just ask Ms. 

Christensen, again, on part two of my question, on your industry 

forecast, what is your level of confidence in the demand forecast? 

Ms. CHRISTENSEN. My level of confidence is strong in our baseline forecast. We built that up using a very substantial array of 

data through critical lens. There are certainly uncertainties embedded within that ranging from consumer response to research outcomes and so on, but just as a calibration note, I will say that our 

baseline of about 4,500 seat equivalents, you can look at that in 

light of the number of sold reservations to date, which is about 925. 

So that as a calibration point I think is indicative of that it is 

a realistic forecast. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. 

I now recognize the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Smith. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Let me direct a couple of questions to Mr. Whitesides, Mr. Alexander, and Mr. Nelson. You all mentioned a while ago, Mr. 

Whitesides for Virgin Galactic, that you expect to be in commercial 

operations in about a year and a half. Mr. Nelson, you said the 

same things about XCOR. Mr. Alexander, you didn’t give a specific 

time, but I gather you are about a year behind that or 2–1/2, three 

years away from commercial operations? 

Mr. ALEXANDER. I would say we are later than what you heard 

from the others. Yes. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay, and Mr. Whitesides, you had over 500 deposits, 

I think, Mr. Nelson, over 200, and Mr. Alexander, you were on the 

cusp of getting them. 

I guess my first question is this. In regard to your revenues, 

what percentage of your revenues do you think or expect or project 

to come from paid passengers versus scientific research? Mr. 

Whitesides? 

Mr. WHITESIDES. Congressman, I believe that certainly the initial 

bulk of the market, I think, is in the individuals. 

Mr. SMITH. Paid passengers. Okay. 

Mr. WHITESIDES. Yeah. For us at least. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Alexander? 

Mr. ALEXANDER. I would agree with that, that people is the real 

market. We believe that the research market is secondary, but we 

are likely to fly research, you know, activities before we fly people. 
78 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. Mr. Nelson? 

Mr. NELSON. Initially we see the participant market being the 

driver, however, we do see the research market, especially industrial research, surpassing that market, we feel 4 or five years in, 

as the value proposition is known and becomes known to industrial 

players outside the government market. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. Now, you have two passengers, I think, Mr. Alexander has three, Mr. Whitesides, eight, two are pilots, I think, 

and of the two, Mr. Nelson, with XCOR, one is a pilot. I guess on 

a scale it looks like that Virgin Galactic is going to have more revenue just on the basis of more passengers, but when do you project 

to make a profit, Mr. Whitesides? 

Mr. WHITESIDES. We expect to be cash flow positive within about 

a year of the start of commercial operations. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. Good, and Mr. Nelson? 

Mr. NELSON. On a GAP basis as well as regular accounting, we 

are profitable last year. We have additional revenue streams from 

other parts of our business. We hope that occurs again this year. 

Mr. SMITH. But as far as commercial space. 

Mr. NELSON. Commercial space, we expect in the first 12 months 

to be profitable. 

Mr. SMITH. Good. I hope you are right and wish you well in that 

regard. 

Let me go to the FAA for a minute. You asked—answered a 

question a while ago about your relationship with the FAA, but my 

question is this. What FAA regulations are of most concern to you? 

Now, Mr. Whitesides, you sounded like a while ago that you were 

okay with the current regulations. You were worried about the future new changes in regulations, but in general, what regulations, 

present or future, are of most concern to you? 

Mr. Whitesides? 

Mr. WHITESIDES. Congressman, you captured it exactly, in fact. 

We believe that the current regulatory posture of AST is a good 

one, and our preference would be to maintain the original eightyear intention of Congress. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. Great. Mr. Alexander? 

Mr. ALEXANDER. We completely agree. We believe that the informed consent approach that this committee originated in 2004, 

really allows the individual to make the choice as to what level of 

safety or what level of risk they want to accept. Just as someone 

who climbs a mountain has a choice of whether to do that or not. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. Mr. Nelson? 

Mr. NELSON. I have nothing more to add. They said it perfectly. 

Mr. SMITH. Last quick question is this. Oh, is my time up? It is 

not up. Last quick question is this. How do you view yourselves, 

the three of you all who are about to engage in commercial operations, do you see yourself as competitors, as rivals, and if you see 

yourself as rivals, do you also see that each of you in your own way 

is adding sort of a value added to the enterprise and to the overall 

commercial operations in space? 

Just in reverse order. Mr. Nelson first. 

Mr. NELSON. I have been asked this question before, Congressman, and the current stage we are in is coopetition. We are competitors, but we also have to cooperate. It is a very early stage of 
79 

the industry, and so things like regulatory frameworks and this 

sort of thing we are in dialogue with through the Commercial 

Spaceflight Federation and the FAA. 

But, yeah, certainly this is a competition, but we have very different value propositions, very different experiences. Just like going 

to Disney or someplace where you have six roller coasters you want 

to ride all six roller coasters, and we are seeing that with our customer base. 

Mr. SMITH. And that is the value added strength in numbers 

maybe? 

Mr. NELSON. Absolutely, and certainly we have—I have said 

many times that we are very happy that Sir Richard Branson 

stepped into this marketplace because to the public face that was 

a wonderful thing. It made it acceptable to say I want to fly to 

space. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. My time is up, but, Mr. Whitesides, real briefly 

if you can give your view of that. 

Mr. WHITESIDES. I think on a personal basis we view each other 

as brothers in arms doing historic work and obviously once we go 

into commercial operation, then we will compete like any good capitalists. 

Mr. SMITH. Okay. Good. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you. I now recognize the gentleman 

from California, Mr. Rohrabacher. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very, very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Yes. That last question was really pretty interesting, Lamar. Nobody said robber baron or bureaucrat so I am glad to hear that 

those two mindsets has not dominated your industry. I think it is 

fascinating that we do, your industry now is being heralded as a 

potential trillion dollar, new trillion dollar enterprise for the future. 

It wasn’t that way back in 2004, when we were working on the 

Commercial Space Act, and let me note that informed consent was 

just mentioned. Getting that principle established for this industry 

was a horrendous task. I mean, this Congress went—that was an 

issue that almost prevented the development of this new trillion 

dollar commercial industry, and it took a lot to get our colleagues 

to accept that. There were people who were skeptical about it as— 

and by the way, I don’t think you are skeptical. I think that you 

are going to be the first one on that rocket. I know I am not skeptical, but I wouldn’t go up there on one of those rockets. I will stay 

on my surfboard, thank you. 

About your industry, how much of your industry is based on 

technology that was developed for the American Space Program, 

and how much of it is new that you are putting into this program 

yourself? How much new technology is coming from your enterprise? How much of it was based on things that the government 

developed for NASA over the years? 

Mr. NELSON. From an XCOR perspective the key parts of our 

technology we developed ourselves, and in fact, we have relied 

much more on the automotive industrial base to make the engines 

fully reusable and to be able to last thousands and thousands of 

rocket flights. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Uh-huh. 
80 

Mr. NELSON. Now, granted, we all stand on the shoulders of 

great individuals in people and the organization of NASA, and but 

some of the core key technological developments were done internally or—— 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. And the real things that makes this, that 

makes your industry possible had actually been developed without 

a direct federal subsidy. Is that correct? Or I am not saying running the business but in terms of developing the shape of your craft 

and the design and the whole concept, or am I wrong there? 

Mr. WHITESIDES. You are correct, sir. Certainly in our case our 

technology is primarily based off the SpaceShipOne Program, 

which was financed by Paul Allen and, you know, to date our entire program has been privately funded. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. So we have a tremendous new industry that 

basically has emerged based on the enterprise and the creativity of 

a group of profit-seeking entrepreneurs as compared to, for example, I understand there was very little government involvement in 

your enterprise, but there was a lot of government involvement in 

the Volt. Wasn’t—the recent car and so we are lucky we didn’t 

have the government having the same kind of influence on you industry that it had on the development of that type of automobile. 

Let me ask you a little bit about suborbital space and some of 

the challenges that you face. I see there is technical challenges, 

which you are moving forward on. We are trying to handle the regulatory channels, challenges now, and this is just as big a hurdle 

as the technology challenges, and then the financial and the market challenges are the things that you are going to have to face as 

entrepreneurs as any other businessmen. 

But right now if we don’t have the right type of regulatory and 

don’t continue with some of the leeway that we gave you in the 

Commercial Space Act of 2004, would you say that that would be 

a death blow to your industry, or would this just a setback, or 

might it be positive? 

Mr. ALEXANDER. I appreciate the question. I think if we were to 

have imposed today’s aviation regulatory environment on the 

Wright Brothers, they never would have gotten off the ground, and 

that is the big fear, that we will take all the lessons learned but 

take them in the wrong way and impose strict regulations that 

don’t take into account the changing way of doing human 

spaceflight that this industry represents. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. That was a very good answer. I have got a 

couple seconds left, and I would just like to note that in two hours 

if your industry is successful, in about two hours we can be on the 

opposite side of the world. Eventually we are going to have a system which can deliver passengers to the other side of the world in 

two hours or packages. That seems to me to be something that has 

tremendous potential for benefit. It also would lead to cheaper, it 

may lead us to a cheaper, as you have already mentioned, way of 

delivering satellites into orbit, and I wonder if we all remember 

that Lindberg got a contract for delivering the mail and eventually 

it helped him then as a private operation to show, to build a plane 

that went across the Atlantic. 

And so there is just a great deal of exciting things that lie ahead 

for your industry, and we are counting on you, but we need you 
81 

back here to make sure that we know what we need to do so we 

are not in the way. 

So thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman PALAZZO. You are welcome, and for the panel’s information we are going to go into a second round of questions. Everybody is agreeable to that? 

Okay. Dr. Stern, I know you have been quiet over there, so we 

have got one just for you. What is the necessary price point at 

which K through 12 STEM educators could begin to use SRVs in 

their curriculum? 

Dr. STERN. Well, that is a great question. As you know, the primary barrier to schools using spaceflight have been the long time 

it takes to fly things. A lot of things that happen in the Shuttle 

Program, for example, a sixth grade class would start it, and they 

would be in college by the time some other sixth grader was carrying it out, and then the prices were so high that it just wasn’t 

within reach of the normal school system. 

In these vehicles, however, the price points are quite low. If you take, for example, George’s company’s cost of $200,000 to fly an individual. You say I want to fly a shoebox-sized experiment, say it 

weighs a pound, for a class, then that ratio of $200,000 to one 

pound would cost, it is about $1,000, which is quite affordable. The 

school could have a car wash, a bake sale, what have you, and afford to have the students fly something in space, and that is really 

revolutionary in terms of the access, and that is one of the reasons 

that educators are so excited about this industry is because they 

are going to get access to space on rapid time scales and at costs 

they can afford. 

Chairman PALAZZO. How soon do you think we will actually see 

secondary students engaging in these types of scientific projects? 

Dr. STERN. I think you will see that very shortly after the commencement of commercial activities, but it is really up to the individual companies to make their case to the school systems around 

the country that they are open for business. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I mean, because it is just so important, yes, 

especially kids at that age to get them excited about science, technology, engineering, math. So hopefully they will just embrace that 

dream and carry it out and make a career out of it, which will also 

help us become more competitive with some of our global competitors. 

My next question is for Dr. Stern and Dr. McCandliss. How will 

research universities benefit from these new vehicles, and could we 

see the number of undergraduate students that fly their own experiments grow as a result of cheaper options for suborbital flights? 

Dr. MCCANDLISS. Yeah. The more flights you have, the more opportunities you have. The question will become where will the 

funds come from to build the instrumentation. The cost of launch 

is really a small part of what it costs to develop the scientific instrument and fly it on a launch vehicle. There are costs associated 

with engineering, design, development, testing, and then ultimately 

integration with payload. 

So who is going to bear those costs? That is the question. 

Dr. STERN. Mr. Chairman, if I might add, I think we have to 

wrap our heads around a different way of doing business when we 
82 

think about suborbital. Just like mainframe computing, spaceflight 

has been very rare since its inception, and just like PC computing, 

it is about to become routine. 

So when Steve and his colleagues and individuals in my community typically think about spaceflight, we think about inventing a 

new experiment. Well, that is not the way to think about it in suborbital. You want to think about an individual experiment that in 

an educational sense does a good job, flying again and again and 

again, being handed from school to school to school every day of the 

year so that you divide that cost by 365 days in the year or by 

many school systems all performing the same experiment the way 

that we all used to do classic physics experiments as undergraduates, and we didn’t invent new experiments. We carried out the 

cookbook, and in that mold where private industry develops or universities develop curriculum experiments that get handed from student to student so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, and 

you can take advantage of these low price points for the launch, 

then we can really see this kind of space access revolution, which 

I think is upon us. 

Dr. MCCANDLISS. I think most educators would say that cookbook experiments have their place in an educational environment, 

but it is not going to advance the science. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize Ms. Edwards. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Nelson, in your written testimony you advocate for a full 

eight years of data gathering before, and I quote, ‘‘Unfettered regulation may begin.’’ Does that mean also that space participants 

would continue in this period to fly under informed consent? Some 

say that is ‘‘fly at your own risk.’’ You said it. And I recognize the 

need for the industry to kind of get its sea legs, and we are not 

anywhere near yet the level of experience achieved in aviation, but 

it seems that this is a pretty lengthy time. 

What do you hope to gain and what experience do you hope to 

gain over the eight years of licensed flights, and why would a lesser 

time period not provide similar results? 

Mr. NELSON. Thank you, Congresswoman. It is a very good question. Between the Wright Brothers’ first flight and the introduction 

of the DC–3, which is recognized as the sort of breakthrough safety 

vehicle, there was approximately 30 years of experience gained 

with hundreds of different types of aircraft, systems, engines, flight 

environments, customer types, and businesses. We see that when 

you, even though technology now expands and develops quicker, we 

still need a period of time to operate and to practice and to learn. 

And as we better understand how we will make these vehicles as 

safe as we can and still remain economically viable, we need to 

take that time. 

To answer your question about after the eight-year learning period and we start to have the beginning of a regulatory environment and certification standards, we still want to fly with informed, under informed consent, meaning it should continue indefinitely as my colleague to my right mentioned. 

The reason for that is is because in order to have a statisticallysignificant database to go through the assured safety ten to the 

minus six safety levels that are normally associated with even gen-
83 

eral aviation, you need thousands and thousands and thousands of 

flights, and it is important for us to have that experience. 

Thank you. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thanks. I just want to remind us all that nobody 

paid to go on the Wright Brothers flights. I don’t recall that as part 

of the history books, and I wonder, Dr. McCandliss, I want to go 

back to something that you mentioned earlier, which is this question of whether you really do need for, real science, and I am not 

talking about, not that the high school scientists for an education 

purpose aren’t really great, but I am talking about our Ph.D. scientists at Johns Hopkins and our other research institutions. The 

kind of environment that you need in order to perform the science 

that you could then have peer reviewed. The environment that has 

been described on the vehicles that we are talking about, do you 

think that that is at a, projected to be at a capacity where you 

would be able to do that kind of experimentation, developing instrumentation that is really sensitive in an environment that also 

contain human payloads or human people? 

Dr. MCCANDLISS. Yeah. It will depend upon the type of science 

that you are talking about. Now, for things like physiological research to see whether or not people will be able to keep their lunch 

down—— 

Ms. EDWARDS. I am talking about high, you know, sort of really 

high technology instrumentation. 

Dr. MCCANDLISS. Right. For our own purposes for say NASA 

science programs where we have strategic plans that we are trying 

to advance and discover secrets of the universe for lack of a better 

term, we require a good strong base of researchers who are savvy 

and can carry out a lot of the tasks that are associated with building instruments, which as everybody down the line here knows is 

a very painful process to get everything to work all at once. There 

are a lot of Frankenstein moments, you know, where you finally 

have breathed life into the instrument, and it lives, and everyone 

is very happy. But there is a lot of sweat and pain that goes up 

to that. 

Ms. EDWARDS. I only call our attention to it because I do think 

it raises a question about how we are going to be able to carry the 

passengers that want to fly and have left deposits with what we 

need to do scientifically. 

Dr. MCCANDLISS. Ms. Edwards—— 

Ms. EDWARDS. And before you get there, I just wonder also if you 

could clarify for the record that even though you work with an 

NTSB partner who is on your site, NTSB does not currently have 

any legislative, statutory authority in commercial spaceflight. Isn’t 

that correct? 

Mr. WHITESIDES. To be honest, I am not an expert on this subject, but my impression is that if there was a mess up, I believe 

it has been represented to us that the NTSB would work with AST 

on that investigation. 

Ms. EDWARDS. I feel certain that the NTSB doesn’t have any current legislative authority. 

Mr. ALEXANDER. The FAA, AST and the NTSB have an MOU 

jointly signed by the two parties. Whether they have statutory authority or not, I can’t speak to. 
84 

Mr. NELSON. And just a couple weeks ago they actually did sort 

of an accident practice out in Mojave with NTSB local first responders and participants from the industry as well as the airport 

and fire and rescue. So I know that they are actively engaged in 

the subject matter of which you speak. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, maybe there is some 

point at which we could actually bring the NTSB in and FAA and 

ask some of these questions. I mean, our witnesses, you know, they 

are terrific, but they aren’t in a position to answer those questions. 

Thank you. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Rohrabacher. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me 

just note that by eliminating the burden of informed consent, what 

we actually did is we eliminated the weight, the unnecessary 

weight of having extra lawyers on every flight, and that I think has 

made a major difference and would have made a major difference 

in the Wright Brothers as well. It isn’t so much as a subsidy as 

it is the elimination of an unnecessary factor, especially if you consider people should be free to decide for their own selves if they 

would take risks in their lives. 

As my father was a Marine fighter pilot and guess what? When 

he signed up, he knew exactly what the risks were, and he was 

willing to do it, we put lawyers into the whole system of the military because was he able to make that informed consent? Well, of 

course, he was. 

When we should put the regulatory regime onto your industry as 

compared to other industries in the past. I would suggest that eight 

years more experience in finding out what your industry is going 

to be all about, we don’t know right now whether the suborbital 

space is going to lead to satellites being launched or how far you 

are going to be able to take passengers, whether it is going to be 

a ride up and a ride down or whether it is going to be a ride to 

the other side of the world. We don’t know those things yet, and 

this is a softball question for the panel, but wouldn’t it be more 

dangerous to put regulations in place right now before we have 

gathered all of the statistics on the differential type of flights that 

you are going to be making over this next 8 years? 

That is a softball question. I am sure somebody can answer it 

there. 

Dr. STERN. Well, I will speak from the standpoint of the research 

community, and the power of these vehicles to transform our ability to do frontline research and to do education, two very different 

things, is in the frequency of flight. It is not that they are going 

somewhere new. It is that they are going there every day. So we 

can go to the upper atmosphere every day or we can, for example, 

look at physiological changes and how people adapt to zero gravity 

with much larger groups of people than a few select astronauts to 

fly hundreds of thousands of people. 

It is the frequency of flight that is key, and if the regulatory environment hampers, impedes, or stifles that, then we won’t get the 

research benefits, and we probably won’t have the tourism benefits 

either. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Anybody else want to answer that? 
85 

Mr. NELSON. In the past I have used a hypothetical example, and 

I guess I should do the research on it, but, you know, we have wiring that runs by cryogenic tanks. In aircraft you don’t have wires 

that run by cryogenic tanks. If they were going to regulate aircraft 

wiring on our vehicle, that could potentially create a safety hazard. 

So we would have to go through a various process to get it 

waived, get it changed, et cetera, but by creating regulations that 

we don’t have experience around, then you perhaps create an environment of just I just described. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. I think that we should have faith in our entrepreneurs and our frontiersmen and our explorers, at least for a 

limited period of time so that they can push back the frontier, and 

then we can come in when—and reach our compromises and reach 

our argreements as to how much regulation is needed to make sure 

our society functions as a whole. 

One last question for Mr. Stern. What type of training is necessary for researchers to fly along with their payloads into suborbital space, and are there companies that offer this type of training, or is it provided by the government or provided by these companies themselves that are providing the transportation? 

Dr. STERN. Yes, sir. That is a very good question, and I will 

speak from the standpoint that my firm, the Southwest Research 

Institute, has already invested our own money to purchase nine 

spaceflight tickets on XCOR and Virgin Galactic for the purpose of 

research missions, early research missions not paid for by the government but from our own funds. So we are already in the process 

of doing that. I am the principle investigator of that program and 

therefore, going through our training process. 

The training falls into three categories. The first is to understand 

how to operate your own scientific gear, just as you would on a 

sounding rocket flight, which I did many times after peer review. 

The second is the same kind of training that the space tourists 

take just to be familiar with the environments and the cabin and 

the vehicles themselves, and the third kind, which I think is 

unique to the research community, is really to make sure that you 

are going to be effective in a short period of time. Time management, distraction management, et cetera. 

Earlier, Ms. Johnson asked a question, excuse me, Ms. Edwards 

asked a question about the efficacy of research flights, of research 

being done on tourist flights, and I am sure that is going to happen 

in the early days, but I think that we are going to see a real market differentiation. In fact, we already worked with Virgin Galactic 

to buy the first charter flight, which is all researchers, and I think 

that that is where you will see, just like cargo doesn’t fly in the 

cabins with people, there are cargo flights, and there are passenger 

flights. You will see the development of research birds and specific 

research flights where everybody is down to business, and that will 

be separate from honeymooners or what have you and the tourist 

line that are going for a peak experience. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for 

holding this hearing. This issue and this new industry is key to 

prosperity, it is key to national—and I would suggest that while 

they are working to make a buck and develop this new type of enterprise, it will have tremendous applications that will make our 
86 

country safer. We will see a technology transfer from a private 

company into the defense arena rather than the other way around, 

and so we wish then Godspeed and lots of success. 

Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher, and I 

guess we need to start talking about how soon we have to put our 

Kodell request in for the most successful company with the best 

safety record. 

I do want to thank today’s witnesses for their valuable testimony 

and the Members for their questions. The Members of the Subcommittee may have additional questions for the witnesses, and we 

will ask you to respond to those in writing. The record will remain 

open for two weeks for additional comments and statements from 

Members. 

The witnesses are excused, and this hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:47 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 
(87) 

Appendix I 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS
88 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS

Responses by Ms. Carissa Christensen 
89 
90 
91 
92 
93 

Responses by Dr. Alan Stern 
94 
95 
96 

Responses by Mr. George Whitesides 
97 
98 
99 

Responses by Mr. Bretton Alexander 
100 
101 
102 
103 
104 
105 
106 
107 

Responses by Mr. Andrew Nelson 
108 
109 
110 
111 
112 
113 
114 
115 

Responses by Dr. Stephan R. McCandliss 
116 
117 
118 

Æ