SpaceShipOne reached 337,500 feet: judging committee

spacedaily.com ^ | 09/29/04

[KevinDavis]

Private rocketship SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 337,500 feet (101,250 meters) on Wednesday on the first leg of its bid to capture a 10-million-dollar prize for manned space travel, officials said.

The official Ansari X Prize judging committee said the figure remained subject to verification from equipment at nearby Edwards Air Force Base, but the initial data showed SpaceShipOne had surpassed the 328,000 feetmeters) considered the edge of space.

[Mr. Lucky]

Surely, you can't be series.

[Petronski]

I am, and please don't call me Shirley.

[Boot Hill]

8   “SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 337,500 feet...”

Wow, 64 miles, it just matched the performance of the 60 year old WW-II V2 missile! Well, this was a privately funded and manned mission, so congrats anyway.

--Boot Hill

[mudblood]

This is spectacular news. Its staggering how absolutely attainable it is for man to go into space. And yet, to so many people its "a waste of money". I've heard people actually put down private enterprise in space as a waste of money (total knuckleheads, of course), and then go home and watch some live event on TV.

If they win the X-prize, I think its possible for me to one day have a ride in space - or more.

[sionnsar]

"So what are the units of odor anyway?"

funk (n) (fungk): abbr. fK. A unit of odor detectable by the human nose, especially odor emanating from the human body, equal to the amount of lead oxide paint 1/1000-in. thick that is removed and/or bubbled up from a painted surface when exposed to said odor.
One thousand microfunks (mfK) is the standardized equivalent to one funk (fK). A smelly human foot unwashed for at least 3 days is equivalent to about 35 microfunks. The contents of Helen Thomas' laundry hamper is the standardized equivalent to 296 funks.

H. Shouldn't that be one million microfunks?

[devane617]

"He gets another shot at killing himself in a week or so. "

I thought the same thing. The way he spiraled up yesterday was downright scary looking.

[Magnum44]

The way he spiraled up yesterday was downright scary looking.

They have really downplayed that, haven't they? I missed the separation and motor firing (work distraction), but caught the spiral, and thought that was not what was supposed to happen. I haven't been able to find out if the main motor was still on or if it was coasting at that point. Anybody know?

I don't know if SS1 has a reaction control system, or if it is strictly aero-dynamic for attitude control. My guess was aero only, which is probably ok for sub orbital flight. It would need something other than aero-surface control for orbital flight.

[hattend]

Watch the whole day's events here:

http://www.xprize.org/webcast/webcast.php