  I present a new determination of the total cross section for proton-proton
collisions from the recent Akeno results on absorption of the cosmic ray
protons in the p-Air collisions. Extrapolation to the SSC energy suggests
$\sigma_{tot}(p-p) \approx (160-170) mb$. I also comment on a possible
sensitivity of the p-Air cross section determinations to assumptions on the
inelasticity of nuclear collisions at high energy.
