FAA jurisdiction over the flights would extend only to protecting the "uninvolved public...."

A bill that strives to create a regulatory framework for space tourism passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday, after a contentious debate over its safety provisions

Where is the line between courage and folly? How much protection should the government afford its citizens if it might be the cost of a dream? Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., sponsor of the latest version of the bill, said, "After being informed of the risks, people can and should be able to decide to buy a ticket and achieve their lifelong dream of flying into space even though they know that it is a risky proposition."

Various versions of the bill have shuttled back and forth from the House to the Senate over the last few months. Beginning shortly after that autumn day in 1783 when the world's first pilot, François Pilátre de Rozier, rose, 3,000 feet beneath a cloth bag full of smoke and hot air and looked down on Paris, history records an incessant assault on the altitude, leading humankind beyond the bonds of Earth itself. Just how much of the effort to keep humans safe in the weird and hostile teritory of the extreme skies should be done by government is still being debated.

Opponents of the bill wanted more scrutiny for the new industry. "I don't want to see people dead from a space experiment, and then the federal government comes in to regulate," said Minnesota Rep. James Oberstar, senior Democrat on the House Transportation Committee.

Rep. Rohrabacher said too much regulation would "strangle this industry and drive these entrepreneurs offshore." The version passed Saturday includes a compromise on the issue -- eight years after the bill is enacted, the FAA can start to issue rules for passenger and crew safety. If anyone is killed or seriously hurt before then, or if an "unplanned event" occurs during a flight that poses a risk of serious or fatal injury, the FAA can issue rules without waiting for the eight years to pass. The eight years is meant to provide time for the industry to mature without being overburdened or slowed down by the regulatory process.

The bill now goes to the Senate, but if it doesn't pass before Congress adjourns for the year, the process will have to start all over in 2005.

Virgin CEO Richard Branson has announced plans to offer commercial space flights by 2007, and is already taking deposits.

Meanwhile, in Malaysia the first commercial spaceport for paying passengers could be starting construction soon, According to the Bristol Spaceplanes' Web site They've approached the Malaysian government with plans to build a launch site for the Ascender sub-orbital space plane. The Ascender would take up to two crew members and two passengers to 100 kilometers and back in 90 minutes, the company says.

The Ascender was designed as an X Prize contender and uses off-the-shelf technology, according to Bristol Spaceplanes. The airplane would take off from an ordinary runway with two turbofan engines and climb at subsonic speed to about 26,000 feet. The pilot then starts the rocket engine and pulls up into a steep climb, reaching Mach 2.8, and coasts to 100 kilometers. The craft could be built within three years, and be carrying passengers within seven, according to the company.

...Will The Spaceships Go Offshore?