'Phoenix , AZ , Friday, April 23, 2004 : – Today at the Space Access conference in Phoenix, Arizona, XCOR Aerospace announced it has received a Reusable Launch Vehicle mission license from the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST). The license, which is the first for a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) that is launched and recovered from the ground, will be used to test RLV technologies prior to suborbital passenger travel.'

In case you haven't been following this, XCOR is working on a re-usable spacecraft system which they hope will win the X-Prize: $10 million to the first privately financed and built, reusable spacecraft. The craft -carrying at least one passenger- must fly to an altitude of at least 100 km twice within a 14-day period, and be capapable of carrying at least three people.

The license awarded by the FAA to XCOR is a milestone in private space development. This is the first significant progress in manned space exploration since the introduction of the Space Shuttle, but this time the accomplishment is due to private enterprise.