Monday's Private Spaceflight: Historical Milestone or Stunt Flying?

space.com ^ | 6/19/04 | Leonard David

[KevinDavis]

A privately built rocket plane is ready to streak through the sky over Mojave, California desert on June 21. Project officials herald it as the first non-governmental piloted flight to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

[KevinDavis]

I say it is both...

[KevinDavis]

Space Ping! This is the Space Ping List! Let me know if you want on or off this list!

[El Sordo]

Please add me to the Space Ping list.

"Magellan's voyage? Historical milestone or just a boat stunt?"

[tet68]

Perhaps part of the problem has been NOT ENOUGH stunt flying!

[Pirate at Forty]

Rutan is the real deal. A midern day adventurer.

Now he does have an ego, what adventurer doesn't (didn't?)? I wish them well!

[KevinDavis]

All I know is this, the Saganites and the space is only for science crowd is going nuts.

[KevinDavis]

All I know is this, America is nation of adventurers, Captain Kirks, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordons, etc...

[dc-zoo]

This may be the guy's last joyride. He might get stuck in orbit.

[So Cal Rocket]

He doesn't have enough delta-V to get that craft in orbit. He could make an unfortunate de-orbit however.

[Glenn]

I say it is both...

What part of it is "stunt flying"? The part that the government doesn't control?

NASA doesn't have a perfect record. Neither might this bunch. But the goal is the same.

[Pirate at Forty]

And the Wright Brothers, and Chuck Yeager, and (pre-political) John Glenn, and Kelley Johnson, and Neil Armstrong, etc, etc.

Would you rather NASA keep spending your money for whatever gains come from space exploration?

[Young Werther]

Stunt or Search for Higher Meaning?

Remember when Lindy bought that Jenny and what did he do? Barnstorm! When the Orteig prize was offered he raised the loot to go for it!

Interestingly, when he returned to New York he became the "Toast of the Town". He met Jake Guggenheim at one of those fancy society balls. when Jake asked him if there was anything that he could do for Lindy, Lindy replied no. But.. there was this Science Teacher in Lowell Mass who was terrorizing his neighbors by launching rockets from his backyard. Lindy asked Guggenheim to provide a grant to this guy so that he could move to a place where he could pursue his rocket ideas without doing his neighbors any damage.

Guggenheim gave Goddard $50,000. He moved to Roswell New Mexico, (twern't no UFOs but he certainly flew 'em high and fast), where he invented the predescessors to the Apollo Lunar ships.

[BlazingArizona]

This may be the guy's last joyride. He might get stuck in orbit.

Going into orbit would take 25x more energy than this craft is capable of, but after the X Prize, designing a private orbital craft is the next logical step. Meanwhile, SS1 can continue to be used for suborbital tourist flights.

What's really innovative about the Scaled Composites design is the fuel system. The fuel in SS1 is rubberized, like Thiokol, but without the oxidizer. Once you light off a load of Thiokol, as in the Shuttle SSRB's, you can't stop it. It all has to burn. In Rutan's system the oxidizer is externally supplied nitrous oxide. This makes his engine throttlable, a huge advance over Thiokol-fueled designs. As a bonus, this also makes Rutan's fuel safe to store and transport. It can even be handled by postal workers.

[Joe Hadenuf]

What part of it is "stunt flying"? The part that the government doesn't control?

You're reading my mind.

[VOA]

All I know is this, the Saganites and the space is only for science crowd is going nuts.

A sign that Rutan and Co. are on the right track.

[SJSAMPLE]

Isn't that Jimmy Stewart portraying Charles Lindbergh? They don't really look that much alike.

[Aeronaut]

[atomic conspiracy]

All I know is this, the Saganites and the space is only for science crowd is going nuts.

Absolutely. Lefties and socialists have an instinctive fear of non-governmental spaceflight, for very good reason. Their ideology flourishes only in a world of reduced opportunity, reduced expectations, limited resources, and, most importantly, the immediate reach of authority.

For them, non-government space flight represents a revival of the open frontier, and the end of a large part of the rationale for their acquisition of power and control.

Looking to the far term, a century or more in the future, they also realize that self-supporting space colonies would be almost beyond the effective control of any Earth-bound authority, placing the lefty authoritarian agenda in mortal danger.

These are, of course, very common themes in science fiction, and one of the dividing lines between left and right among writers in that genre. Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, and many others have celebrated the possibilities inherent in moving beyond the reach of an easy visit from the various guardians of Public Interest and Collective Morality. Lefties too have read these stories. They are not all fools, and many understand (if only subconciously) that this would be the end of their dream of absolute rule by a self-designated elite.

The socialist control-seekers really are looking that far ahead, too. Note how the communist-dominated Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (aka Gnaw-an'-pis) demonizes large scale colonization and mining of the Moon and the Asteroid belt; prospects that are decades, if not centuries, from realization (but which I am nevertheless confident will be realized.)

[Brian Allen]

Monday's Private Spaceflight: Historical Milestone or Stunt Flying?
By Leonard David - Senior Space Writer - June 19 2004 0600 ET





COUNTDOWN TO HISTORY


A privately built rocket plane is ready to streak through the sky over Mojave, California desert on June 21. Project officials herald it as the first non-governmental piloted flight to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

Built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne is set to become the world’s first commercial manned space vehicle. Investor and philanthropist Paul Allen and aviation technologist Burt Rutan, head of Scaled Composites, have teamed to create the program.

If all goes according to plan, the hybrid motor-propelled rocket plane will carry its pilot some 62 miles (100 kilometers) into suborbital space above the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center, a commercial airport in the California desert. Gliding to a landing strip stop, "it will signal that the space frontier is finally open to private enterprise," explains a Scaled Composites release about the flight.

Propelling an individual to such heights is no slam dunk. It’s a risk-taking proposition. In fact, one test mission of the rocket plane last year ended in a landing mishap. Nobody was hurt and the vehicle was quickly patched up to soar another day.

But as SpaceShipOne arcs its way skyward, just how wispy or long-lived of a trail will the project leave in aerospace history books? Will it be remembered as a defining moment in human spaceflight or a stunt?

Economical, reliable, safe, and routine

The suborbital rocket plane is a leading contender among a worldwide cadre of teams vying for the Ansari X Prize, patterned after the Orteig Prize that spurred American aviator Charles Lindbergh to make his historic trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.

For a group to claim the Ansari $10 million cash award, it must fly a privately financed and built craft able to propel three people up to 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) altitude, return safely to Earth, and then repeat that trip within a two week period.


"SpaceShipOne represents the expansion of the human spaceflight private sector into an area in which only government programs had previously been active," said Roger Launius, chairman of the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Launius said a key for Rutan and his team is achieving suborbital travel that is relatively economical, reliable, safe, and routine. "Unfortunately, that won't be demonstrated solely by the two X Prize flights," he said.

Point-to-point travel

But if SpaceShipOne attains economic viability, safety, and other operational goals, Launius thinks it could hasten the day of another type of public transportation: hypersonic point-to-point service on the globe.

There is great potential in a hybrid air and spaceplane that would enable ordinary people to travel between New York City and Tokyo in about one hour, Launius told SPACE.com.

"I believe the spaceplane concept has enormous promise and will find reality within the first half of the 21st Century," he said. "Most important, spaceplanes promise passengers an opportunity to travel around the globe with greater speed and ease than anything available today. In the process, these passengers will become the first space tourists. It may well be that Rutan's work may well materially advance this possibility."

While taking nothing away from Rutan and his team’s grappling with suborbital hypersonic flight, Launius underscored the fact "there is a world of difference, literally, between suborbital and orbital operations."

Government money

The role of both government and private sector in advancing aerospace technology is flagged by aviation and space historian, Thomas Crouch, Senior Curator for the National Air and Space Museum.

"The Orteig Prize inspired Lindbergh, but the single most important element of his aircraft -- the engine -- had been developed with government money," Crouch noted. "Enthusiasm is fine, but almost never enough to achieve a difficult technological goal. If it had not been for the rise of the ballistic missile and the geopolitical importance of the space race, flying to the Moon would still be only a dream," he said.

Crouch admires the effort of Rutan and his team, wishing them all the best.

"I doubt, however, that his success will mark the advent of a Golden Age of space tourism and commerce," he said.

Orbital flight: big market

The portent of private rocket ships hauling ticketed passengers to the edge of space, and eventually into Earth orbit, is another belief shored up by the succession of SpaceShipOne flights to date. But how real is that scenario?

While no government funding is normally thought of as a "good thing" by private rocketeers, it has been disastrous for public space travel, said Ivan Bekey of Bekey Designs, Inc., Annandale, Virginia.

A former NASA advanced planner and technologist, Bekey said that with government encouragement, if not material support, Rutan’s step into space could have taken place 20 years ago. "By now we could have a vibrant public space travel commercial business with many economically viable companies. After all, there is little if no new technology in the Rutan vehicle," Bekey said.

More SpaceShipOne Coverage
Edge of Space
A photo tour of suborbital flight, a governmental endeavor until now.

Rocket Science: Reaching for Space with Rubber Fuel
Instead of conventional liquid or solid rocket fuel, the spacecraft uses a combination of rubber and nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, as its powerhouse.

Mojave Prepares to Make Space History
The small desert town of Mojave, California is bracing for a cosmic Woodstock with plans for an all-night party and, yes, T-shirts.

Exclusive: Photos of SpaceShipOne's Landing Mishap
After cracking through the sound barrier on Dec. 17, 2003 SpaceShipOne's return glide to a Mojave, California landing strip ended in tense moments.

"While all the hoopla goes on, suborbital flights will never amount to a big business," Bekey added, "because the costs will be very high for the few minutes’ experience." Furthermore, the difficulties and costs are enormously larger for orbital flight, he said.

"The market surveys that have been done show that only with orbital flight, and destination places such as orbital luxury hotels, will the market be big," Bekey emphasized.

"NASA is at fault," Bekey said. Had NASA done as good a job as Rutan has, public space travel could have taken two decades ago, "and the U.S. today would be the world leader in a new space industry with a huge market," he said.

Stunt flying

SpaceShipOne’s rocket powered flight to the edge of space mimics in certain ways the suborbital trial runs of the U.S. Mercury space capsule project of the early 1960s.

For example, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard was shoe-horned into his Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft on May 5, 1961 and hurled to an altitude of 116 statute miles by a Redstone rocket. That quick, up-and-down flight lasted all of 15 minutes, with Shepard strapped inside his capsule splashing into the Atlantic, but helped clear the way for America’s entry into orbital spaceflight the following year.

SpaceShipOne’s high-altitude run is more like Lindbergh’s "stunt" flight than Shepard’s step in a planned program of space exploration, said Jerry Grey, Director for Aerospace Policy at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

"SpaceShip One uses appropriate hardware for a stunt flight -- simple, rugged, and adequately tested, and almost certainly qualified for the requisite second flight -- but it will probably not evolve into economical transportation for multiple flights carrying several passengers," Grey said.

Psychological and technical demonstration

Grey pointed out that the suborbital trajectory, although it does require re-entry capability, does not impose the more severe conditions of re-entry from orbit, nor does it demonstrate on-orbit control and operability.

"Hence I can't see it as the real precursor to space tourism, whereas Shepard's was clearly the precursor to Apollo," he said.

Similarly, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, Grey said, "was a fine piece of invention and makeshift engineering, but it had little or no impact on the development of the DC-3 or even the Ford Tri-Motor, which ushered in true commercial passenger aviation."

These views aside, however, Grey saluted the SpaceShipOne project. "As a psychological and technical demonstration of what can be done in human space flight by the private sector, it will be invaluable to open the future path to true space tourism. And in itself it is a remarkable demonstration of private-sector astronautical development, as were Rutan's previous demonstrations in aeronautics."

Arthur Clarke, noted science fiction author and prognosticator of the future, had this tongue-in-cheek view of SpaceShipOne’s role in history: "I told Orville, and I told Wilbur -- it'll never get off the ground!"

[WhirlwindAttack]

It's time to open space to free enterprise. Can you imagine the size of a plasma screen or LCD TV made at 0 G in orbit. 1/6 th G retirement on the moon. True adventurers have always prospered on the frontiers. We need more frontiers now more than ever.