Photos of SpaceShipOne's Landing Mishap

space.com ^ | 18 December 2003 | Leonard David

[Lokibob]

 

 

 

 

	Exclusive: Photos of SpaceShipOne's Landing Mishap By Leonard David Senior Space Writer posted: 05:20 pm ET 18 December 2003

Photos: Courtesy Alan Radecki, used with permission

After cracking through the sound barrier on Dec. 17, the privately funded SpaceShipOne's return glide to a Mojave, California landing strip ended in tense moments.

[Lokibob]

More pictures on space.com.

[no-s]

Holy Cow! What a ride! Notice how none of the important stuff was in the way of the asphalt. I bet these guys will be up an at 'em after the holidays...

[Damocles]

Well, that's slightly embarrassing after such a great accomplishment...

[Joe Boucher]

bump

[Shryke]

Well, that's slightly embarrassing after such a great accomplishment...

Naw. Whenever I did a good stunt on my bike, I always did a power-slide in the dust.

[Dead Corpse]

Ever see the inro for the Six Million Dollar Man tv show?

This little wing scrape was NOTHING compared to past mishaps in experimental aircraft. ;-)

[Poohbah]

IIRC, the guy who flew that lifting body survived.

He HATED that show. Imagine having your worst professional act broadcast every week in prime time for five or six years, then daily every afternoon as it goes into syndication.

I wish they'd do a DVD collection of The Six Million Dollar Man, though...

[smith288]

Whenever I did a good stunt on my bike, I always did a power-slide in the dust.

I did too, only my power slides would sometimes cause me to flip over my handlebars and onto my butt... but I would then stand up and bow... thats the key...getting up faster than you fell down.

[Poohbah]

I did too, only my power slides would sometimes cause me to flip over my handlebars and onto my butt... but I would then stand up and bow... thats the key...getting up faster than you fell down.

And act is if you WANTED that to happen (c8

[Prodigal Son]

He HATED that show. Imagine having your worst professional act broadcast every week in prime time for five or six years, then daily every afternoon as it goes into syndication.

That's like the skier who used to be on the intro to the Wide World of Sports when they got to the "Agony of Defeat" part of the spiel...

[bonesmccoy]

SpaceShipOne was making one in a series of test flights in preparation for attempting a sub-orbital space flight. With pilot Brian Binnie at the rocket plane's controls, the craft's left landing gear retracted at touchdown. SpaceShipOne veered to the left, departing the runway with its left wing down.

Damage from the landing incident was minor and is easily repairable, reported Scaled Composites, designer and builder of the craft. SpaceShipOne, its builders hope, will be the first privately built, passenger-carrying sub-orbital rocket plane.

There were no injuries caused by the landing mishap, with pilot Binnie reportedly in A-OK condition and primed for a future flight.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Imagine having your worst professional act broadcast every week in prime time for five or six years

He can form a support group with the skijump dude from Wide World of Sports.

[Poohbah]

That's like the skier who used to be on the intro to the Wide World of Sports when they got to the "Agony of Defeat" part of the spiel...

That one looked way worse than it was...I think that guy wound up getting a bronze later that day, in a different event.

[Tijeras_Slim]

DANG!

[smith288]

And act is if you WANTED that to happen (c8

You have to be proficient at roll-to-standing transition...

[Paradox]

Not to be a scaremongerer(ererer), but I hope Burt and crew are going to subject that craft to extensive testing to make sure its OK. Composite materials don't fail like "regular" materials (of course, Burt has forgotten more than I will ever know about composites...)

[Prodigal Son]

That one looked way worse than it was...I think that guy wound up getting a bronze later that day, in a different event.

Compare that one to Ulrike Maier's accident though. Female Austrian champion. She was dead instantly and it was quite obvious. The terrible thing was, her family and children were there watching the event.

[RightWhale]

So? It's a glider. Gliders do that all the time.

[randog]

Naw. Whenever I did a good stunt on my bike, I always did a power-slide in the dust.

LOL!!

[ASA Vet]