I haven’t had (or at least, made) the time to write up this past weekend’s Space Access Conference, but Jeff Foust has, in part, over at The Space Review (an excellent site that I would suggest adding to your bookmarks–I’ve updated my space policy links to include it). He has a good description of the issues and discussion of regulating suborbital flight that came out of that meeting, in a panel that included both vehicle developers and the FAA-AST.

Summary: As I’ve been saying for a long time, initial space transports will not be certified, even for passengers, because to do so would result in a stillborn industry. And Burt Rutan may end up losing the X-Prize because he’s not doing what’s necessary in order to be able to legally fly by the end of next year, regardless of the technical readiness of his vehicle.