"TEST FLIGHT - The White Knight ferries Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne on the vehicle's second rocket powered test flight Thursday morning at Mojave Airport. ROB LAYMAN/Valley Press
Posted on 04/09/2004 7:06:13 PM PDT by BenLurkin
MOJAVE - Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites team rocketed one step closer to claiming the $10 million X-Prize award Thursday with a seemingly flawless test flight of the SpaceShipOne rocketship. It was the second rocket-powered flight of the experimental spacecraft, Scaled Composites' entry into the international X-Prize race intended to jump-start the commercial space tourism industry.
The competition will award $10 million to the first privately funded team to successfully build and launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to an altitude of 100 kilometers, or 328,000 feet, and safely return to earth, then turn around and duplicate the feat with the same ship within two weeks.
SpaceShipOne reached 105,000 feet Thursday, burning its rocket engine for 40 seconds and reaching speeds approaching Mach 2 (1,500 mph), according to X-Prize officials who were on hand to witness the flight.
"It looked flawless," said Peter Diamandis , chairman and CEO of the X-Prize Foundation. "I said to the Scaled Composites crew '105,000 (feet) down, 223,000 (feet) to go!'
"We're looking forward to writing out a $10 million check."
SpaceShipOne is designed to be air-launched from the White Knight carrier aircraft, then use a rocket engine to boost it to 100 kilometers - 62.5 miles - above the Earth. Upon completing an arc, the spacecraft descends to a runway landing, much like a glider.
The mated aircraft took off from the Mojave Airport shortly after 7 a.m. on the clear, still morning. Only a few thin bands of clouds could be seen as the White Knight and its chase aircraft became small specks trailing contrails across the blue skies.
After nearly an hour of climbing to the launch altitude in the military restricted airspace adjacent the Mojave Airport, SpaceShipOne dropped from its carrier and shortly after lighted the rocket motor. From the ground, it could be seen only as a vapor trail, yet its speed and trajectory made it distinct from the other contrails.
The unpublicized flight nevertheless drew crowds of onlookers to the Mojave Airport flight line Thursday morning. Most of those in attendance were employed at the airport or had connections to the flight itself. Knots of employees gathered in front of the hangars and aircraft lining the runway and taxiway, as hundreds of pairs of eyes turned skyward to track the flight.
As they watched the rocket's contrail streak ever higher, the crowd around the base of the control tower let out cheers, punctuated with a few yells of "way to go, Pete!" for the SpaceShipOne pilot, Peter Siebold.
As the rocket burned out and the aircraft reached the top of its flight arc, Siebold could be heard over the radio to say "The sky is dark." He also commented that the rocket flight was "remarkably quiet in the boost."
SpaceShipOne circled the airport as it descended before executing a picture-perfect landing in front of the cheering crowd.
Erik Lindbergh , grandson of the pioneering aviator and vice president of the X-Prize Foundation, called the flight "epic."
"We are witnessing history, a milestone in aerospace," he said. "This is so exciting because this is the beginning of space flight for you and me. This is the route."
Involved with the competition since it was announced in 1996, Lindbergh believes the pursuit of commercial space travel will benefit humankind by providing a broader view and perspective on our world.
"Talk to any astronaut; they say they have been changed by the experience of looking down from space," he said. "It will help us to thrive and survive into the future."
The spacecraft's hybrid rocket motor, the first designed for manned space flight in several decades, burns a combination of rubber and nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas. This system, which also requires an ignitor to start the process, is considered safer and more stable than traditional solid or liquid rocket motors, said Kevin Heath, business development manager of SpaceDev. Scaled Composites chose the Poway-based company for the valve in the Rutan-designed rocket motor.
The first rocket flight was more nerve-wracking, Heath said, but the 40-second duration of this flight made it something different.
"Forty seconds is a long time," he said. "We're just chomping at the bit to go 90 seconds," the duration of rocket burn for the 100 km flight.
Of the 27 teams in seven countries that are in the X-Prize competition, about six have full-scale engines in testing, Diamandis said. He could not give further details on the other teams' progress, but "clearly Scaled is one of the favorites," he said.
When the X-Prize is won, "we want to make sure the whole world knows about it," Diamandis said. The publicity, including a global Webcast of the attempt, is hoped to jump-start the fledgling commercial space industry by demonstrating what can be done.
With that kind of publicity blitz planned, the Mojave Airport is making its own preparations for the large crowds anticipated to watch the attempt.
Airport personnel and other local agencies, such as the Kern County Sheriff's and Fire departments, have been working together and conducting training drills for the event. Test flights such as Thursday's offer a good opportunity for a "dry run" of the eventual attempt, Mojave Airport Manager Stuart Witt said.
Coordination between the agencies worked well, and the airport is well positioned for any major events, he said.
"If you're alive and have anything to do with aviation, this morning Mojave was the place to be," he said. "It brings tears to my eyes."
"It's awesome. It's the reason we live in Mojave and work at the Mojave Airport, because of projects like this," said JoAnn Painter, president of the East Kern Airport District board of directors, which governs the airport. "They're moving us into the future. This is where aviation and space is happening."
Thursday's historic flight came on the heels of another Scaled Composites first: the company was granted the Federal Aviation Administration's first license for a manned suborbital rocket just the day before. The license is required for the X-Prize attempt.
SpaceShipOne made its first rocket-powered flight Dec. 17, 2003 - the centennial of the Wright Brothers' first flight - making it the first manned supersonic flight by a privately built, nongovernment-funded aircraft.
In that flight, the rocket motor shut down as planned after 15 seconds, with the ship climbing at a 60-degree angle and flying near Mach 1.2 (930 mph). It continued climbing to 68,000 feet before the ship's momentum slowed to zero and it completed the arc to make the gliding landing. The left landing gear collapsed at touchdown, causing the ship to veer off the runway into the dirt with its left wing down. No one was injured in the incident, the only glitch in an otherwise perfect performance.
"TEST FLIGHT - The White Knight ferries Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne on the vehicle's second rocket powered test flight Thursday morning at Mojave Airport. ROB LAYMAN/Valley Press
Thu Apr 8,11:34 AM ET "For the first time the government has cleared a commercial aviator to fly to the edge of Earth's orbit in an experimental aircraft that could become the model for taking tourists into space, regulators said on April 7, 2004. The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) issued the license for a suborbital manned flight to Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites group of Mojave, California. Scaled Composites is competing in a privately run, $10 million contest to send a reusable craft carrying three people on a suborbital round-trip. Rutan's SpaceShipOne is seen during a test flight." Photo by Reuters
You're kidding, right? How could anyone get tired of this stuff!
BOOST Breaking sound barrier
2 hours from NY to Moscow or LA to Tokyo would be incredible.
I'm much more interested in two hours (or even twenty!) to L5.
This is a hell of a step on the way.
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