SpaceShipOne Rolls During Flight To Space
UPDATED: 12:43 pm EDT September 29,
2004
SpaceShipOne, on a quest to win $10 million, spun unexpectedly as it rocketed toward space Wednesday, but apparently went into space for the second time.The craft that in June became the first private vehicle to take a person into space now must complete a third flight in the next two weeks to win the Ansari X-Prize as the first private craft to be capable of routinely reaching space.
After landing, pilot Mike Melvill jokingly called the roll at the end of the rocket burn a "victory roll.""Now that was fun," he said of the flight.He said that he shut off the motor 11 seconds before it would have automatically cut off.The White Knight carrier plane took off about 10:10 a.m. EST. About an hour later, the space craft dropped from the plane, fired its rocket and began its flight upward over 300,000 feet.It soon began rolling, but the nose kept pointed upward, and radar indicated that it reached the official edge of space. It then apppeared to turn up its wings, as expected, and float toward Earth as a glider. It then locked the wings back in place for the last 40,000 feet or so of its descent.About 20 minutes later, glided to a landing from the airport where it took off.Designer Burt Rutan said that Melvill was told to abort the flight when the craft started spinning, but Melvill wanted to make sure the threshold was crossed for the first half of the attempt to win the prize.Rutan said that he didn't know if the problem would delay an expected Monday flight to capture the cash.Melvill, who became the first private astronaut in June, and weight equivalent to two people were on board. X-Prize rules call for the craft to carry three people, or enough weight to simulate that load.The weight was made up in part by personal effects of members of the team that brought the project to life.The flight was the first of two that would earn the team -- led Burt Rutan and financed largely by Microsoft's Paul Allen -- the reward.The X-Prize orgnizers announced after the flight that they plan to hold an annual event at a spaceport in New Mexico, because the program was not designed to create a one-time effort, but to begin an industry.The 10-day festival is expected to encourage X-Prize competitors to go for as many flights as they can during that time.An official called it a "Grand Prix of space."Earlier this week, airline mogul Richard Branson announced that he has licensed some of the technology from SpaceShipOne to develop a commercial spaceflight venture that could be in operation sometime in 2007.Rutan is famous for innovative, record-setting designs, including the Voyager craft that circled the globe on a single tank of fuel.
 SpaceShipOne |
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Previous Stories:
- September 27, 2004: Virgin Signs Deal With SpaceShipOne Designer
- July 27, 2004: SpaceShipOne To Shoot For $10M Prize
- June 21, 2004: Private Company Becomes First To Put Man In Space
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