December 18, 2003
SpaceShip One Goes Supersonic
Burt Rutan's White Knight / Space Ship One did some history making of their own, yesterday, as Space Ship One lit its hybrid rocket motor for the first time in flight, and broke the sound barrier.
The fully reusable system uses two vehicles. The first, a turbojet-powered carrier plane called White Knight, carries the second, SS1, up to about 15,000 metres (48,000 feet). SS1 is then released by White Knight and ignites its innovative hybrid rocket motor.
Test pilot Brian Binnie, at the controls of SS1, began the flight at 0815 PST, after being released from the carrier plane by its pilot, Peter Siebold. The two were moving at Mach 0.55 at the time of release.
Binnie then pulled SS1's nose up to 60° and lit the rocket for 15 seconds. This blasted SS1 to 930 mph, or Mach 1.2, and an altitude of 68,000 feet (20,700 m).
20000 Feet in 15 seconds, now that's acceleration.
Posted by elkaim at December 18, 2003 4:58 PM