June 21 launch to space

Today thousands of people crowded around to watch the privately funded rocket, SpaceShip piloted by test pilot Mike Melville attempt to become the first test pilot to fly a privately funded craft to 62.5 miles (100.6 kilometers).



Burt Rutan, who is the brains behind SpaceShip One, became famous when he designed the Voyager, which flew around the world on a single tank of gas.



Spaceship one took off from the Mojave Airport early this morning carried by the jet, White Knight to an altitude of around 50,000 feet. Then the rocket, SpaceShip One, separated from White Knight, and fired its engines. It then soared up to its peek altitude about 100 kilometers above the earth. During this phase of the flight the rocket reached 3 G's or 3 times the normal gravity we feel on earth. The pilot then experienced a few minuets of weightlessness, before the rocket fell like a stone back to earth. During its decent phase the pilot felt several G's. At about 80,000 feet the rocket turned into a glider and pilot Mike Melville was able to safely glide the rocket to a soft landing at the Mojave Airport.







I think that this was an important flight, because it has opened the possibilities of space to the public. Just like the prizes in the 1920's and 30's that jump-started aviation around the world, the x-prize is doing the same for space. This flight is like the Wright Brothers first flight of a powered plane at Kitty Hawk. The Wright brothers did not have the vision of 747s flying people across the United States, but knew that they could build their planes from stuff in their own garage. I think that this flight shows people that you don't need a lot of money to fulfill your dreams; you just need to act on your ideas, even if it might seem like science fiction. I think that if I people just keep on coming up with new ideas, and act on them, great thinks will happen. I encourage any one who has an idea to pursue it until they achieve it no matter how far fetched it might seem. I want to end this writing by rooting on all the x-prize teams to keep on going even when the going gets tough and good luck to all of you.

Links

White Knight

SpaceShip One

Scale Composites

Spaceship One Makes Another Historic Flight To Space

On September 29, 2004 SpaceShip One soared to space. Flight control wanted to abort the mission but pilot Mike Melville held on until he reached space. He tuned the engines off a few seconds early and then flew SpaceShip One back to earth for a safe landing.

SpaceShip One makes 2nd flight, wins X-Prize!

"On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne rocketed into history, becoming the first private manned spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 328,000 feet twice within the span of a 14 day period, thus claiming the ten million dollar Ansari X-Prize." - From the Scale Composite's web site.

Scaled Composites - White Knight/SpaceShip One Links

White Knight and SpaceShip One photos

SpaceShip One and White Knight videos

Scaled Composites X-Prize Home Page

SpaceShip One x-prize page

SpaceShip One galleries

Scaled Composite's page on Xprize.org

X-Prize News Links

Privit craft soars into space, history - cnn

Wired News - Long Shots Stil In Play

Other Teams

"The da Vinci Project, led by Brian Feeney of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, registered as a contender for the X PRIZE on June 2, 2000. A reusable helium balloon will lift our spacecraft, "Wild Fire" to an altitude of 80,000 feet. This is where Wild Fire's rocket engines will fire and propel the crew to the 100 km altitude goal -- space". - www.davinciproject.com

Armadillo on X-Prize Site

Canadian Arrow on X-prize site

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