Posted on 10/06/2004 9:58:50 AM PDT by Ed Hudgins
Signals from SpaceShipOne By Edward Hudgins
On Oct. 4, 2004, the 47th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, humanity again made spaceflight history. SpaceShipOne, designed by Burt Rutan and his company, Scaled Composites, and built with money from Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, won the privately funded $10 million Ansari X Prize by becoming the first three-passenger private vehicle to fly into space twice in a two-week period.
SpaceShipOne's triumph teaches us four lessons:
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The dream is alive! Was there ever any doubt?
"Frontiers of any type, Physical or mental, Are but a challenge to our breed. Nothing can stop the questing of men -- Not even Man. If we will it, Not only the wonders of space but, The very stars are ours." -Andre Norton
Here is a link to a site with designs for cardstock models of Spaceship 1.
http://www.currell.net/models/ss1.htm
They have a pdf; print it out on cardstock and glue it together!
Cool!!
What a neat concept. Thanks! I've been keeping my eyes open for something like this. Perhaps I'll suggest this to some Scout troops and other groups after I've taken a look into it some more.
/
Thursday night The History Channel is showing the last two flights, I think. Check your local listings
OK, I'm jealous.
More proof that PRIVATE ENTERPRISE IS THE WAY TO GO FOR SPACE EXPLORATION!
Considering that Branson said first flights should begin in 2007, that means 1500 people a year going into space. Incredible, in one year we'll send more people into space on that little ship than has been in space since the space age began and that number will continue to grow.
Lesson five: If you want results, post a reward. When you fund research you get research, not results. Generally.
Anything for Flight Simulator?
Yah, it's called "Black Skies" should be on at 9pm ET, but check local schedules.
Get X-plane. Better flight modeling then MSFS, and they there are downloadable spaceshipone(s).
www.x-plane.com
Indeed! If this had been a NASA project, the vehicle would still be in the conceptual planning stage, billions of dollars over budget, and it would probably end up being scrapped by some damned committee.
NASA lost its cajones when they replaced the "can-do" spirit of the engineers with the "we got us a shuttle fleet so we need nothing else" mindset of the bureaucrats.
I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but look at the Space Shuttle program.
Being a gub'mint agency and therefore beholden to screeching environmentalist whackos, NASA gave in and replaced the sturdy main fuel tank insulation with some eco-friendly crap. That happy touchy-feely-feel-good crap flaked off during launch and caused the fatal damage to the skin of the craft and cost our astronauts their lives.
So do the bureaucrats at NASA switch back to the tried-and-true formula for tank insulation, get back up on their feet, and recommence Shuttle missions? Hell no! It's back to the merry go round of committes, committees, committees, and more committees.
If the government would have been the sole supplier of aviation during the early 20th century, trans-Atlantic flights would still only be accessible to the wealthy and powerful, and only on prop-driven aircraft. The Boeing 747 would be trapped in the realm of science fiction, instead of a fact of daily life.
Fortunately, thanks to Paul Allen, Burt Rutan, and the fine crew at Scaled Composites, we now know that private enterprise is ready and willing to step up to the plate, take the risks, and reap the rewards of the exploration of space.
Just wait until word gets around that the average iron-nickel asteroid contains trillions of dollars worth of metals. The words "deep space gold rush" come to mind.
Sorry about the rant, but NASA sucks these days. Tragic, considering the drive and spirit they had back in the glory days of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.
FierceDraka -- Your points on NASA are right on the mark! Also see my book, "Space: The Free-Market Frontier."
http://www.objectivismstore.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=248
Also on mining astroid, see John Lewis book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201479591/qid=1097164035/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/103-5047274-2671009?v=glance&s=books
Let's hope these flights open the eyes of those who want to make us a spacefaring civilization.
Ed Hudgins
ehudgins@objectivistcenter.org
Call me back when they go a little higher than 100 km.
Lucky!!!
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