Herb Schaltegger wrote:

That would depend on the inherent stability/flying qualities of the
vehicle and the degree of control authority provided, I should think.
That big plank of a wing and featherable tail would seem to have a
pretty decent margin.



But the passengers would be sitting up in the nose of the ship; which
would put them pretty far forward of the CG;
I assume that the rocket motor sits just astern of the CG and the NO2
tank just forward of it, so as to keep the aircraft's balance correct as
the fuel and oxidizer are expended- if that is the case, then you are
going to need to carry ballast in the crew compartment to represent the
passengers if the aircraft is not to stall on the return glide- the only
other thing you could do is fly it in a controlled dive via fly-by-wire
to compensate for its tail-heaviness; this would make a landing flare
very tricky. Besides, knowing that it has to carry the ballast for the
prize flights, you would want to carry it during the envelope expansion
flights so as to get a true measure of the aircraft's handling and
velocity capabilities at operational weight.

Pat