We obviously all heard of the $10 million X prize Contest. Well it looks like there is a frontrunner. I have seen the photo of this manned rocket
here on ATS before, but I figured this deserved a new topic because the FAA today announced that it gave a one-year license for a manned suborbital
rocket to Scaled Composites of Mojave, Calif., a company founded by aviation maverick Burt Rutan. His goal is public space travel within 10 years.
external image
Here is the rest of the
story
I found it interesting that the Burt Rutan was the designer of the Voyager, the plane in 1986 that made the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around
the world.
The Scaled Composites craft consists of a rocket plane, dubbed SpaceShipOne, and the White Knight, an exotic jet designed to carry it aloft for a
high-altitude launch. SpaceShipOne, made of graphite and epoxy, has short wings and twin vertical tails. It reached 12.9 miles altitude in a trial
flight; the license will allow the spacecraft to reach the edge of space, about 60 miles up.
