It\'s Official!!!

[EHM-0654 Murray]

Watching the webcast of WhiteKnight/SpaceShipOne (hopefully) winning the Ansari X Prize, and unofficially, it apogeed at FL3680...

I intend to finish watching as long as work don't catch me

[EHM-0654 Murray]

And landed at 1515Z... two things now need to take place before Scaled Composites can be awarded the X Prize;

1. Confirmation of the apogee height (needs to be above FL3280)

2. The pilot must stay alive for the next 24 hours

[EHM-0962 Zhen Yi]

LOL if the pilot can land the plane he should be alive in the next 24 hours

Now FL3680.......only if our planes can reach that altitude

[EHM-0654 Murray]

Taken from the space.com story

MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA -- Human flight took a significant step forward today as the privately built SpaceShipOne flew into suborbital space for the second time in five days, securing the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

With pilot Brian Binnie at the controls, SpaceShipOne rocketed to a winning height of 367,442 feet (112 kilometers), setting a new altitude record for the craft and proving that private industry can build a viable vehicle for sending paying passengers to space.

SpaceShipOne technology is currently owned by a Paul Allen company called Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV). Allen is a Microsoft co-founder and bankrolled the design and building of SpaceShipOne to the tune of more than $20 million.

The MAV team is led by research aircraft developer Burt Rutan, chief of Scaled Composites, based here at the Mojave Spaceport.

At a post-flight press briefing, Rick Searfoss, a former shuttle astronaut and now chief judge for the Ansari X Prize, stated: "I declare that the Mojave Aerospace Ventures has indeed earned the Ansari X Prize."

Binnie was the 434th human to have left our planet to go into space, Searfoss noted.

"It’s really an incredible feat of technology," Allen said. "I’ve been involved in technology for awhile. But this is really amazing. This is rocket science…this is real first-class, top-line rocket science executed to an incredible degree of precision. This flight couldn’t have been any smoother."

[EHM-0962 Zhen Yi]

Ah well congrats to them then! :8 But i guess the price is only symbolic as they spent much more than that.....now.....if it wasn't for microsoft's co-founder sponsoring them they wouldn't have succeeded! (most likely)

[EHM-1077 Emanuele]

Indeed the prize was mostly a stimulus, not a payback.
But the payback is clearly in licensing the technology
and carrying paying passengers up in space, and the
deal with Richard Branson's Virgin clearly show that.

I wouldn't be so sure about the Microsoft dude though.
There are plenty of people with big bucks.  I'd rather
think the merits go to people like Rutan and the rest
of the engineering team, for taking small steps toward
the final goal instead of risking everything in one lucky
shot.  

Ciao ciao!

Manu

[EHM-1358 Tim]

Didnt they have to have 2 people in the spaceship?

[EHM-0654 Murray]

Originally posted by Tim
Didnt they have to have 2 people in the spaceship?

Or (as is the case) ballast of equivalent weight...

[EHM-0654 Murray]

Originally posted by Tim
Didnt they have to have 2 people in the spaceship?

Or (as is the case) ballast of equivalent weight, which if (Bob forbid) everything went base over apex, would have meant a reduced loss of life...

[EHM-0962 Zhen Yi]

I agree that the merits goes to the engineers but surely the big bucks would have helped? Otherwise i don't think they would have achieved that so soon

[EHM-1358 Tim]

They get the money after they do it. lol