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MOJAVE, Calif. Oct. 4, 2004 — A stubby rocket plane powered its rockets and appeared to blast through the Earth's atmosphere for a second time in two weeks Monday to capture a $10 million prize meant to encourage space tourism.

SpaceShipOne, the rocket plane funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, appeared to top its required altitude within minutes of firing its rockets, said Peter Diamandis, who founded the X Prize eight years ago.

The plane took off from a desert runway early Monday, slung to the belly of a carrier plane with a test pilot at the wheel. It was released at about 46,000 feet and fired its rockets to continue to an altitude of just over 62 miles generally considered to be the point where the Earth's atmosphere ends and space begins.

Radar confirmation of the rocket's peak altitude was expected soon after landing, but a crowd of thousands of enthusiasts on the ground began celebrating as soon as SpaceShipOne appeared to exceed the minimum requirement.

"This is the true frontier of transportation," said Marion C. Blakey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, who stood near the runway to watch the space flight.

"It feels a little bit like Kitty Hawk must have," Blakey added.

If the altitude of 368,000 feet is confirmed, the backers will claim the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million award that goes to the first privately built, manned rocket ship to fly in space twice in a span of two weeks.

The choice of Brian Binnie as Monday's pilot was kept secret until hours before the scheduled takeoff. Last week, SpaceShipOne rolled dozens of times with Michael Melvill at the wheel as it hurtled toward space at three times the speed of sound.

Melvill also flew the first flight by a private plane into space on June 21, and he was awarded the nation's first commercial astronaut wings by the FAA.

After a safety analysis, SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan posted preliminary information about last week's flight on his Web site this weekend to address what he called the "incorrect rumors" that have circulated.

The first roll occurred at a high speed, about Mach 2.7, but aerodynamic loads on the spacecraft were low and decreasing rapidly "so the ship never saw any significant structural stresses," he said.

Diamandis came up with the X Prize, hoping it would have the same effect on space travel as the Orteig Prize had on air travel. Charles Lindbergh claimed that $25,000 prize in 1927 after making his solo trans-Atlantic flight.

Major funding came from the Ansari family of Dallas. More than two dozen teams around the world are trying to win the prize, but only SpaceShipOne has reached space.

Last week, Richard Branson, the British airline mogul and adventurer, announced that beginning in 2007, he will begin offering paying customers flights into space aboard rockets like the SpaceShipOne. He plans to call the service Virgin Galactic.

"The power to Destroy the planet, is insignifigant to the power of the Air Force----Mudd Vader

Edited by - mrmudd on Oct 04 2004 09:53 AM

Discovery ran an excellent and inspiring documentary on the program last night. Regarding Michael Melvill, very accomplished for a guy who didn't even finish high school, and his soft-spoken sincerity and humility were <i>incredibly</i> apparent.

SpaceshipOne
GovernmentZero

<img src="http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/teufel/devil-smiley-001.gif" border=0> 668: The <i>neighbor</i> of the Beast. <img src="http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/teufel/devil-smiley-001.gif" border=0>

Now if Rutan orbit in the next five years nasa is in some real deep trouble.

Rumor has it that Rutan has plans for an orbital vehicle. Now stress or mud.

Theoretically if Rutan orbits he could build a mach 5+ vehicle for commercial travel.

First question is do you guys think he is interested in travel from point a to b on the earth or just ability to orbit.

Second question if he can orbit and put payloads into space how much cheaper do you think satellite services will become. The reason I am interested is I run a telemedicine company we need bandwidth, but satellite is too expensive now.

Would Rutan orbiting be the death nail to NASA's shuttle and low earth orbit programs. Basically privatizing low earth and making NASA get back to the where they should be high earth orbit, the moon, and possibly mars.

Diference between private venture and Govt Venture

Cost Vs Risk.

It is a safety issue and nothing more. Civillians can risk all, and the Govt cannot.

This is why NASA will always be a Big Cash mule.

The thing that has never been accepted by congress is that No life is "invaluable" and a Civillian funding entity believe "Sacrifice" is a fact of adventure.

Their is no payphone in space. Any mistake here, there is no recourse.

"The power to Destroy the planet, is insignifigant to the power of the Air Force----Mudd Vader