Wright Flyer Hits the Skids while Space Ship 1 breaks the sound barrier

In two attemps to re-create the first flight, the replica Wright Flyer dropped of the end of the rail into the mud.

edition.cnn.com...



In better news, Space Ship 1 lit it's rocket engine today and performed flawlessly in a gracefull flight. All signs are go for Scaled Composites to gain the X-Prize crown.

www.scaled.com...

SpaceShipOne Breaks the Sound Barrier

"Our flight this morning by SpaceShipOne demonstrated that supersonic flight is now the domain of a small company doing privately-funded research, without government help. The flight also represents an important milestone in our efforts to demonstrate that truly low-cost space access is feasible.

Our White Knight turbojet launch aircraft, flown by Test Pilot Peter Siebold, carried research rocket plane SpaceShipOne to 48,000 feet altitude, near the desert town of California City. At 8:15 a.m. PDT, Cory Bird, the White Knight Flight Engineer, pulled a handle to release SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne Test Pilot, Brian Binnie then flew the ship to a stable, 0.55 mach gliding flight condition, started a pull-up, and fired its hybrid rocket motor. Nine seconds later, SpaceShipOne broke the sound barrier and continued its steep powered ascent. The climb was very aggressive, accelerating forward at more than 3-g while pulling upward at more than 2.5-g. At motor shutdown, 15 seconds after ignition, SpaceShipOne was climbing at a 60-degree angle and flying near 1.2 Mach (930 mph). Brian then continued the maneuver to a vertical climb, achieving zero speed at an altitude of 68,000 feet. He then configured the ship in its high-drag "feathered" shape to simulate the condition it will experience when it enters the atmosphere after a space flight. At apogee, SpaceShipOne was in near-weightless conditions, emulating the characteristics it will later encounter during the planned space flights in which it will be at zero-g for more than three minutes. After descending in feathered flight for about a minute, Brian reconfigured the ship to its conventional glider shape and flew a 12-minute glide to landing at Scaled's home airport of Mojave. The landing was not without incident as the left landing gear retracted at touchdown causing the ship to veer to the left and leave the runway with its left wing down. Damage from the landing incident was minor and will easily be repaired. There were no injuries.




[Edited on 17-12-2003 by dexxy]

Thanks dexxy, confirms what I have been saying for the past few years that the private sector needs to be in the space business.

Excellent.Been waiting for news on Spaceship One.

ahhh, what a sweet pic almost brings tears to my eyes to see a private company achieve this milesone

[Edited on 17-12-2003 by dexxy]