NEWS: SpaceShipOne Makes It To Space !!!

Originally posted by Gazrok
looks like someone just made 10 million bucks, hehe....

[edit on 21-6-2004 by Gazrok]

Not just yet. They have to repeat the feat with the same vehicle within two weeks as allwayslooken said in his/her post

When you consider the era of the Concorde, this concept should
be viable.
Sanc'.

With any luck, future historians will mark this event as the begining of true space exploration. I have to label what we have done up to this point as space experimentation. We've just been getting our feet wet. Hopefully, we can actually jump in now...

They have to repeat the feat with the same vehicle within two weeks

True, BUT this flight did NOT qualify for the prize since only Melvill was aboard, but the team is said to make a formal attempt at the prize later this summer.

mantis2501.tripod.com...

Nonetheless, a historic day for spacetravel!!


[edit on 21-6-2004 by raven2012]

Originally posted by raven2012

They have to repeat the feat with the same vehicle within two weeks

True, BUT this flight did NOT qualify for the prize since only Melvill was aboard, but the team is said to make a formal attempt at the prize later this summer.

mantis2501.tripod.com...

Nonetheless, a historic day for spacetravel!!


[edit on 21-6-2004 by raven2012]

Oh yeah, you're right. I think they have to send 3 people up, and then agauin in 2 weeks.

on our way to space tourism....

I think I'd put my money on Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites for the X-Prize.

That's an incredible feat, and I'm looking for more great things from those guys.

Not just yet. They have to repeat the feat with the same vehicle within two weeks as allwayslooken said in his/her post

Well, sure if you want to get all technical.....

My point was simply to remind with a wink and a nudge about the X prize, hehe....

Originally posted by raven2012

They have to repeat the feat with the same vehicle within two weeks

True, BUT this flight did NOT qualify for the prize since only Melvill was aboard, but the team is said to make a formal attempt at the prize later this summer.

Actually the main reason this flight didnt qualify was that Scaled Composites hadnt informed the X-Prize people of the intention to fly within 30 days of the flight. They announced this flight at the beginning of June, and even then they said it was never intended to be a contest flight.

For the flight to be a contest flight, they need 30 days notice given to the X-Prize organisers, they need to carry 3 people or ballast equal to 3 people on the flight, and they need to repeat the flight within 14 days replacing only 10% dry weight of the vehicle (excluding fuel).

That said, the prize is pretty much Rutans, unless something disasterous happens in the next few weeks. Hes going to announce the contest flights in August and walk away with the money.

Best of luck to him!

aaaaaactually. The reason this flight didn't qualify was because there was not a passenger. The X Prize rules states there has to be a pilot and a passenger (2 people) go into space twice. This was just sort of a test run. The first official flight is set for September.

it's very excited that we only pay 10 dollars for space travel some day,

Originally posted by Gazrok

Not just yet. They have to repeat the feat with the same vehicle within two weeks as allwayslooken said in his/her post

Well, sure if you want to get all technical.....

My point was simply to remind with a wink and a nudge about the X prize, hehe....

Sorry, I get all excited when I know something (not too often as my wife will remind me)

Just to think back for a moment in time and remember when Rutan was sitting in a diner in Mojavi, CA and drew a picture of the first aircraft to fly around the world on one tank of fuel on a napkin. He's had lots of time and lots of napkins to put this last adventure together. This guy has had lady luck travelling with him for quite some time. I think she is still with him and he will travel to the ends of the earth flying on her contrail of good fortune.

Well who knows who will win. SpaceShipOne certainly has a commanding lead but it isn't as solid as it was before the launch because Scaled has decided to perform 1-2 more test flights before it makes the attempt. The reason they said, was because there were minor problems during the flight, the pilot actually heard a bang, but it turned out to be nothing and they went ahead anyway. There were other minor problems as well but I forget...

Meanwhile up in Canada the other front runners DeVinci Project and the Canada Arrow are getting ready for test flight and at least Devinci Project organizers are saying they are targeting late-summer to early-fall for the X-Prize Attempt so its getting close....

now it's being reported that there were several glitches in the flight.


[url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&ncid=96&e=2&u=/space/20040622/sc_space/privatespaceshipencountersglitchesinrecordsettingflight ]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&ncid=96&e=2&u=/space/20040622/sc_space/privatespaceshipencountersglitchesinrecordsettingflight[/ur l]

MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA -- There were tense times during the sky-blistering flight of SpaceShipOne here this morning. Fighting control problems, pilot Mike Melvill wrestled with several anomalies that cut short a pre-planned altitude mark.

At a post-landing press briefing, the 63-year old Melvill described a series of technical snags that haunted his record-setting flight. Right after motor ignition, the pilot said the craft rolled 90 degrees to the left, then 90 degrees to the right. "It has never ever done that before," he explained.

Melvill said he leveled out the rocketship, but then experienced trim problems during his climb outside the Earth's atmosphere -- an issue that he dealt with as he made his way to a desert runway landing.


During SpaceShipOne's climb, Melvill said he also heard a surprising bang, coming from the engine area where a fairing holding the craft's nozzle buckled.

However, still a huge success!! I can't wait for my turn to take "the ride" !

I'd think, that with the complexity of the craft, and the mission, that a few minor glitches would be expected.

Still, a major success, and an historic milestone.

Huge congrats to Rutan and Co.

Rutan has always had set backs before and during his flights. It's just that way when you go into the unknown. Just a few days before one of his test flights on the Voyager his flight mechanic placed two stainless steel cables from the sides of the forward engine to the mounting blocks as a safety precaution. Just as lady luck would have it, the front prop came apart and the vibration was so violent that it ripped the engine from its mounts and the only thing that kept the engine in place were the safety cables. Rutan told me that had it not been for those cables, the prop and engine would had torn through the cockpit and terminated flight charatistics of the aircraft. That would have put him and Yeager in a very bad way. Those hand made props from Spain were always a concern. So, I don't think he is ready to let a little thing like "BANG" slow him down, remember how heavy the fuel tanks made the wings sag during take-off of the Voyager and it ripped one of the canards off, then he tried to rip the other one off himself while completing the take-off. This will get better as the competition heats-up. I can't wait to see the designs!

Anyone know what space ship one cost to make? Ive heard that a big wig at microsoft funded it with 20 million of his own money. Was this what the craft cost to make?

I wish I could dig up all those people who I've bet with about this happening in our lifetime! *L*

What an exciting leap. Even with all the malfunctions and downright tragedy that's surrounded man's efforts to get to space, I'd go in a heartbeat. No question about it. When I saw the Mars pics I wished so badly I could be there walking around checking it out! Maybe it can happen sooner than we'd thought.

This is without a doubt totally awesome, I always get goose bumps when something like this happens, think about our children think this is absolutely normal, they can't ever remember a time that there wasn't space travel and it looks like it may become a reality for private companies. Good luck to them.