MSNBC - Space racers unite in federation

America's top rivals in the private-sector space race are now on the same side, in a federation newly formed to advance their infant industry's interests.

The Personal Spaceflight Federation, whose establishment was announced Tuesday, brings together a who's who of space entrepreneurs, including SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan, whose team won the $10 million X Prize last October, and video-game genius John Carmack, whose Armadillo Aerospace team was among the leading contenders for the prize.

The industry group plans to work with federal regulators to help draw up the "rules of the road" for suborbital space tourism, following up on last year's landmark law on private-sector spaceflight, said Gregg Maryniak, who serves as the federation's chief spokesman as well as executive director of the X Prize Foundation.