[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 207 (Monday, October 27, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 61241]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-27023]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Commercial Space Transportation; Suborbital Rocket Launch

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments; correction.

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SUMMARY: This document contains two corrections to a notice and request 
for comments that was published in the Federal Register on Monday, 
October 20, 2003 (68 FR 5997). Federal Register Document 03-26373, 
published October 20, 2003 (68 FR 59977), clarifies the applicability 
of FAA licensing requirements to suborbital rocket launches, in 
general, and suborbital RLVs, in particular, so that a vehicle operator 
can determine, in advance of consultation with the FAA, whether it must 
obtain a launch license. This correction revises a paragraph addressing 
a suborbital trajectory. This action also corrects footnote 2, by 
adding the full FAA Docket number.
    Accordingly, pursuant to the authority delegated to me, Commercial 
Space Transportation; Suborbital Rocket Launch, as published in the 
Federal Register on Monday, October 20, 2003 (68 FR 59977), (FR Doc. 
03-26373) is corrected as follows:
    1. On page 59979, Column 3, the third full paragraph beginning, 
``The FAA rulemaking regarding RLV * * *'' is corrected to read as 
follows:
    The FAA rulemaking regarding RLV missions, concluded in 2000, 
addressed ``suborbital trajectory'' in the context of RLVs. The FAA 
regards a suborbital trajectory as the intentional flight path of a 
launch vehicle, reentry vehicle, or any portion thereof, whose vacuum 
instantaneous impact point (IIP) does not leave the surface of the 
Earth. The IIP of a launch vehicle is the projected impact point on 
Earth where the vehicle would land if its engines stop or where vehicle 
debris, in the event of failure and break-up, would land. The notion of 
a ``vacuum'' IIP reflects the absence of atmospheric effects in 
performing the IIP calculation. If the vacuum IIP never leaves the 
Earth's surface, the vehicle would not achieve Earth orbit and would 
therefore be on a suborbital trajectory.
    2. On page 59980, column 2, footnote 2, Docket No. FAA-2000, is 
corrected to read Docket No. FAA-2000-7953.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on October 22, 2003.
Donald P. Byrne,
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulation.
[FR Doc. 03-27023 Filed 10-22-03; 1:42 pm]
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