MOJAVE, California - Burt Rutan, head of X-Prize contender Scaled Composites, has vowed to appeal the ruling by the FAA that his newly issued license for sub-orbital space flight be revoked. The FAA contends that upon reentry, Rutan's vehicle SpaceShipOne, "exhibited a free-fall acceleration of 37.5 feet per second per second, violating Newton's Law of Gravity", after accounting for drag and other factors. "Ludicrous," responded Rutan, "Simply ludicrous. You're not going to put an omelet in space without hyper-accelerating a few eggs."

"We're very serious about this," said FAA spokesman Henry Price, "We support the private sector moving into space exploration and commercialization, but not at the expense of the fundamental laws of physics."

"Look, there are laws, and then there are 'laws'," explained Scaled Composites legal counsel John Hanks, "Newton didn't come up with a 'law', he came up with a 'theory'. It's not like a speed limit or a stop sign. I seriously doubt Galileo intended to pull over falling bodies and ticket them if they failed to fall at the same rate. It's not a 'legal' issue."

Some observers are not convinced that the FAA is simply defending natural laws. "The X-Prize is worth ten million dollars. But more than that, the first private company to put a human in space is going to become the most powerful company in the world overnight," explained space law expert Maureen Williams, "So I suspect if we dig deep enough, we will find that someone highly placed in the FAA has a second-cousin making a run for the X-Prize."

In fact, one contender -- Armadillo Aerospace -- is headed up by John Carmack, the brother of FAA manager Cathy Carmack. When asked about any potential conflicts of interest, Ms. Carmack responded, "My work doesn't cross into that area, so there is no potential for a conflict. Besides, have you looked into Johnny's entry? I mean, 'Crushable Nose Cone'? Are you going to ride something that brags about its 'Crushable Nose Cone'? I don't think this is a licensing problem, if you see where I'm coming from."

Despite the license revocation, Rutan says he will continue all scheduled tests. "The tests are unmanned, so the license issue is moot. But we need to get it overturned before our first real flight. It's always somethin', ain't it?"
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