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ATTENTION SPACESHIP ONE AND WAR BIRD FANS
The Grand Internet ^ | 07-12-04 | PeteePie

Posted on 07/12/2004 7:40:58 AM PDT by PeteePie

First Flight of SpaceShipOne into Space

This is from a guy who has a rich obsession with aviation. I wish it were me but I'm not nearly rich enough to make the rounds like him...

First Flight of SpaceShipOne into Space

On June 21, 2004, I joined twenty seven thousand other people to watch the launch of SpaceShipOne, the first private-venture craft to attempt to leave the earth's atmosphere and enter space, defined as an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 miles). I and the other afflicted technophiles gathered in the pitch blackness of Mojave airport in California sometime after 3 AM, to await the 6:30 AM takeoff. As you can see from this photo, our particular religious devotion has its own special rituals and posturing. Various luminaries such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governator of California, John Travolta (a long-time fan of aeronautics) and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin were also on hand - but you can be sure they weren't slumming it with the rest of us!


TOPICS: Announcements; Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: aircraft; coolstuff; history; vintage; warbirds; wwii
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I sure hope this hasn't been posted at an earlier date but this link leads to cornucopia of nicely cataloged airshows and a rich offering of rare warbird pics. Click on the flaming F-111 at the bottom of the page to access tons of airshow louges: http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/SpaceShipOne2004
1 posted on 07/12/2004 7:40:58 AM PDT by PeteePie
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To: PeteePie

Nice! Thanks for posting the link to the pictures.


2 posted on 07/12/2004 7:51:05 AM PDT by hedgetrimmer
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To: PeteePie

Woohoo. Capitalists in space!!


3 posted on 07/12/2004 8:05:04 AM PDT by farfromhome (Was Clinton a good president? That depends on what your definition of 'was' is.)
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To: PeteePie

Great photos and narration.

Thanks


4 posted on 07/12/2004 8:16:09 AM PDT by skyman
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To: PeteePie
Thanks much. We were there and loved the show. Everyone was walking around with huge grins plastered on their faces.
5 posted on 07/12/2004 8:56:08 AM PDT by Mycroft Holmes (Fnord!)
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To: Aeronaut

ping


6 posted on 07/12/2004 12:32:12 PM PDT by snopercod (The very basis of our freedom is that we are a Federation of Sovereign States -- Ronald Reagan)
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To: snopercod; Tijeras_Slim; FireTrack; Pukin Dog; citabria; B Knotts; kilowhskey; cyphergirl; ...

7 posted on 07/12/2004 12:35:59 PM PDT by Aeronaut (Edwards is simply not qualified to be one heartbeat from the presidency.)
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To: PeteePie

Seems SpaceShipOne is scheduled for the X-Prize attempt in late September.


8 posted on 07/12/2004 12:39:50 PM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establish property rights)
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To: RightWhale

We didn't realize it at the time, but there were a couple of serious malfunctions as the craft accelerated to more than Mach 2.9 (2150 mph or 3460 km/h). About 7 seconds after ignition, a 60 knot (70 mph or 110 km/h) wind shear caused an unintended 90 degree rotation, which the pilot corrected. Just 10 seconds after starting its climb it reached Mach 1, and the rocket continued burning for another 66 seconds before automatically shutting down.

Late during this powered phase, one of the motors which control the trim adjustment malfunctioned and although Melvill quickly swapped to a backup system the ship wasn't quite at the right angle as it climbed. The combined anomalies put it 20 miles off course and ultimately cost about 30,000 feet of altitude.

This very nearly resulted in the failure of the test to reach its initial goal of 100 kilometers, in fact SpaceShipOne ended up getting to an altitude of 100,124 meters - only one tenth of one percent above its target altitude, and quite a long way short of the intended altitude of 108,000 meters..


9 posted on 07/12/2004 12:41:57 PM PDT by snopercod (The very basis of our freedom is that we are a Federation of Sovereign States -- Ronald Reagan)
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To: PeteePie

Thanks for the link! The pictures were outstanding! And so were the ones at the photo gallery link at the bottom of the page. I can see I'm going to spend a lot of time checking out all that's there. Thanks again!


10 posted on 07/12/2004 3:07:14 PM PDT by GBA
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To: Aeronaut

Thanks for the ping!


11 posted on 07/12/2004 3:07:56 PM PDT by GBA
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To: PeteePie

Excellent commentary and pics!


12 posted on 07/12/2004 6:27:47 PM PDT by B4Ranch (We're going to take things away from you (guns) on behalf of the common good." Hillary 6/29/2004)
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To: PeteePie; Aeronaut; snopercod; Tijeras_Slim; FireTrack; Pukin Dog; citabria; B Knotts; ...

Awesome!

Rutan rules.

BUMPping


13 posted on 07/13/2004 1:03:02 AM PDT by Brian Allen (Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? Galatians 4:16 -- So mote it be!)
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To: B4Ranch

ping


14 posted on 07/13/2004 1:03:47 AM PDT by Brian Allen (Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? Galatians 4:16 -- So mote it be!)
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To: PeteePie

Tuned in on TV for the flight, it was really a great moment. *BUMP*


15 posted on 07/13/2004 8:38:56 AM PDT by newzjunkey (No more Floridas: Can "W" actually win this thing outright?)
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To: newzjunkey

bump


16 posted on 07/13/2004 11:18:31 AM PDT by hc87
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To: farfromhome

Wonder when the TSA will demand government-employee screeners be present before this thing can take off again...

NASA won't stand for it. They'll try to get Uncle Statism to put the kibosh on private spaceflight.


17 posted on 07/13/2004 5:59:29 PM PDT by The Libertarian Dude ("We're the GOP, and we're for smaller government, right after we pass these bills... and these...")
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To: PeteePie

Sweeeeeeet!


18 posted on 07/14/2004 6:20:11 AM PDT by Professional Engineer (Yes, you are special. Just like the rest of us.)
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To: snopercod

A later thread quoted a statement form Rutan that they found the cause for each failure and fixed them.

He expects the next flight to be the "1st of 2" required to win the Xprize.


19 posted on 07/14/2004 9:40:46 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly ... But Kerry's ABBCNNBCBS press corpse lies every day.)
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To: Robert A. Cook, PE; XBob
In the shuttle program, they release jimspheres (high altitude metallic balloons for radar tracking) prior to each launch and check out the upper level winds. The idea is to look for severe wind shear areas and strong winds that would blow them off course.

Hopefully, Rutan will be doing something similar. He would hate it if SS-1 had to land on I-10 in Blythe...

20 posted on 07/14/2004 10:13:29 AM PDT by snopercod (I remember when Gallo Red Mountain wine was $1.59 a gallon.)
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