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A rocket plane soared toward space Monday in a historic attempt to make the first privately financed flight into space. SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill ignited a rocket motor for an 80-second burn intended to boost the craft to an altitude of 62 miles above the Mojave Desert. The craft was designed to make an unpowered landing back at Mojave Airport after an approximately 30-minute glide.

MOJAVE, Calif. — Mike Melvill (search) is hoping to boldly go where no private enterprise has gone before. Melvill was to be in the cockpit Monday of a privately developed rocket plane that seeks to soar into suborbital space, making history as the first non-governmental manned spaceflight.

I thought this will be the official live thread of the historic launch of Spaceship One. Since this will happen while I'm at work, I thought I give a live thread an eary start..

MOJAVE, Calif. -- The skies above this high-desert town have seen a lot of history.

Private spaceships need private money. It’s no different for the design, building and testing of SpaceShipOne, now undergoing final checks for a public shakeout Monday over the Mojave Desert in California.

Today marks a breakthrough in the final frontier for space tourists, writes science reporter Stephen Cauchi. Late tonight, if all goes to plan, there will be a space flight like no other. SpaceShipOne, the world's first privately built, manned spaceship, will take-off from a runway in California. For would-be space tourists on a budget, it is a momentous occasion. For in a decade or so, they will probably be able to earn the ultimate thrill — their astronaut wings — as passengers in a craft very much like it. SpaceShipOne will not go fast enough to orbit the Earth. But...

A privately built rocket plane is ready to streak through the sky over Mojave, California desert on June 21. Project officials herald it as the first non-governmental piloted flight to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

All spaceflight is risky, any expert will tell you. Maiden voyages can be particularly tricky, given all the unknowns. Even SpaceShipOne, a smooth-operating, trusty craft, had a mishap upon landing during a test flight last December.

MOJAVE - On Monday morning, Mojave will become the center of the universe for space enthusiasts. On that day, providing Mother Nature cooperates, Scaled Composites will attempt the first privately funded manned space flight. SpaceShipOne, a star-spangled, football-shaped spacecraft will carry its single pilot 328,000 feet - 62.5 miles - above the Earth and into space.

REMINDER!!!! A privately-developed rocket plane will launch into history on June 21 on a mission to become the world’s first commercial manned space vehicle. Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan have teamed to create the program, which will attempt the first non-governmental flight to leave the earth’s atmosphere. SpaceShipOne will rocket to 100 kilometers (62 miles) into sub-orbital space above the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center, a commercial airport in the California desert. If successful, it will demonstrate that the space frontier is finally open to private enterprise. This event could be the breakthrough that...

Date set for private space launch By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor SpaceShipOne could make aviation history 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...

Mojave, CA: A privately-developed rocket plane will launch into history on June 21 on a mission to become the world's first commercial manned space vehicle. Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan have teamed to create the program, which will attempt the first non-governmental flight to leave the earth's atmosphere. Paul G. Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan have teamed to create a manned space program, which will attempt the first non-governmental flight to leave the earth's atmosphere. SpaceShipOne will rocket to 100 kilometers (62 miles) into sub-orbital space above the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center,...

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 SPACE FLIGHT ATTEMPT SpaceShipOne boosts itself into the atmosphere It aims for an altitude of 100km (62...

A desert airdrome in Mojave, California is on the final glide path to getting government approval for becoming an inland gateway to space. The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites)'s Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST) is expected next month to certify that the Mojave Airport Civilian Flight Test Center as a non-federal spaceport to handle horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft. As such, Mojave Airport can offer a range of launch and landing services making it a hub for high-flying craft intended to help spark public space travel. The Mojave Airport is located approximately 100 miles north of...

The May 13th flight of the privately-financed SpaceShipOne has verified that the craft and its operators are close to attempting suborbital flight. Their goal: Two consecutive missions, two weeks apart, aimed at winning the Ansari X Prize purse. SpaceShipOne has undergone a series of 14 confidence-building missions -- air toted, gliding, and powered flights -- much to the satisfaction of SpaceShipOne’s builder, Scaled Composites of Mojave, California. Another test hop is on the books, before trying to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition, according to sources close to the project. Back-to-back flights The quest by Scaled Composites to...

Plane Flies to Edge of Space - By Irene Mona Klotz, Discovery News SpaceShipOne on a Test Run May 14, 2004 — The front-runner in a $10-million race to send the first private crewed vehicle into space Thursday made a test flight that took a solo pilot near the edge of space. Aspiring astronaut Mike Melvill piloted the SpaceShipOne rocket plane, designed by legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan, to nearly 41 miles above the planet's surface, nine miles shy of NASA's official designation of space and 21 miles short of the finish line for the X-Prize. Mission to Mars: Go...

Chalk up another booming flight of the privately-backed SpaceShipOne, the piloted rocket plane designed to soar to the edge of space and glide to a runway landing. With pilot Mike Melvill at the controls — following release from the White Knight turbojet-powered launch aircraft high above the Mojave, California desert — SpaceShipOne punched through the sky today boosted by a hybrid propellant rocket motor. According to sources who witnessed the flight, SpaceShipOne appears to have reached an altitude of a little over 200,000 feet. Scaled Composites of Mojave is the builder of SpaceShipOne, an effort led by aviation innovator, Burt...

Firm is competing for the $10 million X Prize Aircraft designer Burt Rutan and his firm Scaled Composites took a giant leap early Thursday toward becoming the first private company to send a person into space. Scaled Composites, funded by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, set a new civilian altitude record of 40 miles in a craft called SpaceShipOne during a test flight above California's Mojave Desert. The firm is one of 24 companies from several countries competing for the X Prize, which will go to the first privately funded group to send three people on a 62.5-mile-high suborbital...

MOJAVE — A piloted rocket released from a spider-like mother plane shot straight up into the desert sky here today, climbing to 212,000 feet and becoming the first privately funded vehicle to reach the edge of space. The SpaceShipOne rocket carried 62-year-old test pilot Mike Melvill to heights only a few NASA astronauts and Air Force pilots have ever reached. The aviation milestone also propelled the aircraft's designer, Burt Rutan, to the forefront in the race to win the $10-million Ansari X Prize, an unusual competition to spur development of commercial spaceflight. "You just can't imagine what a thrill it...

MOJAVE - Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites team rocketed one step closer to claiming the $10 million X-Prize award Thursday with a seemingly flawless test flight of the SpaceShipOne rocketship. It was the second rocket-powered flight of the experimental spacecraft, Scaled Composites' entry into the international X-Prize race intended to jump-start the commercial space tourism industry. The competition will award $10 million to the first privately funded team to successfully build and launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to an altitude of 100 kilometers, or 328,000 feet, and safely return to earth, then turn around and duplicate the feat...