SPACE FLIGHT ATTEMPT
SpaceShipOne boosts itself into the atmosphere
It aims for an altitude of 100km (62 miles)
Wings fold up to provide "feather" effect
Converts back to non-feathered glider
Posted on 06/02/2004 10:46:44 AM PDT by alnitak
Scaled Composites, the company behind the first private manned spacecraft, will launch it into space on 21 June carrying an as yet unnamed astronaut.
SpaceShipOne is built by aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan who hopes to win the Ansari X-prize of $10m (£5.7m) for the first private flight into space.
The craft has to reach an altitude of 100km (329,000ft) twice in two weeks to win.
A total of 25 other teams across the world are competing for the prize.
First private astronaut
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SPACE FLIGHT ATTEMPT
SpaceShipOne boosts itself into the atmosphere
It aims for an altitude of 100km (62 miles)
Wings fold up to provide "feather" effect
Converts back to non-feathered glider
|
Aviation history is set to be made on 21 June if SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately-built spacecraft to go into space.
Last month it completed an impressive demonstration over Mojave airport, when SpaceShipOne and its carrier aircraft White Knight moved a step closer to claiming the X-prize. Pilot Mike Melvill took the vehicle closer to space than any non-governmental craft has been.
Its 64km (211,000ft) altitude was twice as high as SpaceShipOne had been piloted to before.
To win the Ansari X-Prize, that altitude - 100km (329,000ft), the official boundary of space - has to be reached twice in two-weeks by a three-man spacecraft.
SpaceShipOne's 14 shakedown tests have now put it into a position to make the bid for space.
Burt Rutan's company Scaled Composites has already become the first non-governmental body to be granted a launch licence when the US Federal Aviation Authority gave it one on 1 April.
The X-prize will mark a new era in manned spaceflight when private companies are able to make short sub-orbital hops for paying customers.
It is hoped that a market for space tourism can be developed. But in reality, only a very few rich passengers will be able to be carried into space by one or two companies for the foreseeable future.
Awesome!
Thanks for posting this, Girdle.
Hope there's room on the ramp at mojave that day. I'll fly out (providing they don't close the airport).
Ping.
Please take me off this ping list. Thanx.
There will be about a million people there at the spaceport. It looks like nobody else is in the race, even though there has been some activity here and there. SS1 will fly to altitude with the pilot, then will have to fly with a passenger or two. But SS1 will have to fly to altitude with two passengers twice with a turnaround of two eeeks. There is still a ways to go.
They can fly ballast instead of the other 2 humans.
They can fly for the prize with only one pilot and ballast. The ship just needs the ability to carry three people.
3. The flight vehicle must be flown twice within a 14-day period. Each flight must carry at least one person, to minimum altitude of 100 km (62 miles). The flight vehicle must be built with the capacity (weight and volume) to carry a minimum of 3 adults of height 188 cm (6 feet 2 inches) and weight 90 kg (198 pounds) each. Three people of this size or larger must be able to enter, occupy, and be fastened into the flight vehicle on Earth's surface prior to take-off, and equivalent ballast must be carried in-flight if the number of persons on-board during flight is less than 3 persons.
> There is still a ways to go.
And the prize expires at the end of this year (2004).
Even if Scaled wins it, it probably won't be a profit-making accomplishment. I suspect the backer (Allen) has invested more than the prize already.
Then the question becomes: ok, now what?
Paying passengers would be a next step, maybe not the very next step. Rutan would also be designing a ship to go even higher and faster. Orbit is a long ways off.
Rutan designs kit planes, so perhaps a kit would be coming soon. Wouldn't that be something, to build an EZ-Spaceship.
After watching 'A plane is born' and 'a chopper is born' on Discovery Wings, I can't imagine building something like White Knight. Would take 15 years on your own. I suppose it would be possible with a team of 5-10 people over awhile though.
Maybe they'd have local clubs that could build one?
Super cool.
White Knight and Stretched White Knight would be a problem for amateurs, but SS1 would be a task worthy of the effort. You should be able to build an EZ-SS1, and transport it to the Mojave Spaceport where the White Knight could be hired by the launch. Not cheap, but what use is all your money you've been squirreling away for a 4X4 you won't be able to get gas for anyway?
Since when does a suborbital trip qualify as space flight?
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