Posted on 06/21/2005 5:56:01 PM PDT by KevinDavis
The future looks bright for civilian suborbital spaceflight, with a host of private firms developing spacecraft to carry anyone with a willing heart and a robust bank account on the ultimate trip.
One year after the history-making suborbital space shot of SpaceShipOne, commercial spaceflight efforts continue to make headway through government regulation and technological hurdles, each with its eye on the space tourism market.
On June 21, 2004, the privately-built SpaceShipOne dropped from its White Knight mothership above the Mojave Desert and rocketed into history as the first civilian-funded spacecraft to reach suborbital space with a human pilot at the helm.
Built by aerospace veteran Burt Rutan and his Scaled Composites firm, SpaceShipOne went on to make two more suborbital flights within two weeks between September and October 2004. The final two flights clinched the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million challenge, for SpaceShipOne’s Mojave Aerospace Ventures company backed by entrepreneur and billionaire Paul G. Allen.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Can't believe it's been a year!
I know.. It went by fast.
I thought the exact same thing...it doesn't seem possible.
It happened on October 4th, 2004.
Nevermind...the October date was when they won the X-Prize. That's why it seems like it went by so fast. They actually did launch and reach space on June 21st, 2004.
Yep. First powered flight was 12/17/2003.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.