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What Rutan doing is great, however it's not a glider in my humble opinion.
Would we consider Bob Harris the altitude record holder if he towed to 49,009 and then glided back to Cal City? Of course not. The SS1 is a Rocket Plane, it qualifies under the "Aircraft launched by a carrier Airplane" category, exactly like the X-15 decades before, which never claimed a "Soaring Performance" Record. FAI specifies a Motor-glider as being a "A fixed wing aerodyne equipped with means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight without thrust from the means of propulsion." The X-15's and SS1's performances are 100% dependent on their engines and ballistic trajectories (coasting) after engine shutdown, they can't sustain soaring flight by utilizing any atmosphere generated form of lift to improve performance beyond their limited glide ratios, so their flights can't be technically considered "Soaring Performances". |
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