Rocket plane reaches Earth's atmosphere in private space flight

[ladysycamore]

Ah yes: private funds for space travel. Something I can agree on and support.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/s...aterocket.html

By John Antczak
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:48 a.m. June 21, 2004

MOJAVE – A rocket plane soared out of Earth's atmosphere Monday in history's first privately financed manned spaceflight.

SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill was aiming to fly 62 miles high. The exact altitude was to be confirmed by radar later.

The ship touched down at Mojave Airport to applause and cheers at 8:15 a.m. PDT, about 90 minutes after the flight began.

For a few minutes after SpaceShipOne began its descent, it was unclear whether Melvill had reached his goal. But the mission announcer finally said the mission had been successful as the craft prepared to land at Mojave Airport, accompanied by three chase planes.

"Beautiful sight, Mike," mission control said to Melvill as the gliding spaceship slowly circled toward its landing.

Standing on the tarmac beside the ship, Melvill said viewing the Earth from outside the atmosphere was "almost a religious experience."

"You can see the curvature of the Earth," he said. "You got a hell of a view from 60, 62 miles."

Melvill said he heard a loud bang during the flight and did not know what it was. But he pointed to a place at the rear of the spacecraft where a part of the structure covering the nozzle had buckled, suggesting it may have been the source of the noise.

The rocket plane was carried aloft at 6:45 a.m. by a special jet called the White Knight.

After an hours' climb the pair reached about 46,000 feet and SpaceShipOne was released.

A moment later Melvill flipped a switch to arm the rocket, and another switch to ignite it.

Then the motor shut down and the rocket coasted to the top of its trajectory.

The project was funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who would only describe the cost as being in excess of $20 million.

SpaceShipOne has emerged as the leading contender for the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million award to the first privately financed three-seat spacecraft to reach 62 miles and repeat the feat within two weeks.

Monday's flight was not part of that competition, but Melvill was confident that the program will go on to claim the prize, which is intended to spur efforts to give the public access to space.

"I'm ready to go, boy, I am ready to go, and we are going to win the X-Prize. Put your money on it," he said Sunday.

Melvill, 62, was selected for the flight from among the project's three pilots. During a test flight last month, he flew the rocket plane to an altitude of about 40 miles.

Melvill is a test pilot and vice president-general manager at SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, which built the craft.

The pilot has set national and world records for altitude and speed in certain classes of aircraft, and has logged more than 6,400 hours of flight time in 111 fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters. His test flights range from crop dusters to fighter jet prototypes and racing planes.

Originally from Durban, South Africa, Melvill and his wife, Sally, moved to the United States from England in the 1970s, and he is now a U.S. citizen. Melvill has a son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren.

Rutan gained wide fame by designing the Voyager aircraft which flew around the world nonstop and without refueling in 1986.