October 4, 2004
The X-Prize Falls
Congratulations to Burt Rutan, Paul Allen, and the Pilots: The Ansari X-prize has been won by the Space Ship One.
X Prize officials said it set an altitude record exceeding the military X-15's top altitude of 354,200 feet (67 miles) set on August 22, 1963.With a wish of "Good luck and Godspeed," mission control sent the privately funded craft toward space for the second time in a week, the requirements for winning the X Prize.
"Today we have made history. Today we go to the stars," said Peter Diamandis, co-founder of the X Prize Foundation.
The $10 million award is intended to spur civilian spaceflight.
"You have raised a tide that will bring billions of dollars into the industry and fund other teams to compete," Diamandis said. "We will begin a new era of spaceflight."
The craft left a near perfect dovetail of exhaust contrails with the White Knight turbo jet, which carried it aloft, as its rocket ignited for 84 seconds. The rocket burn sent SpaceShipOne on a trajectory that sent it climbing for almost a minute after the engine shut down.
"It looks great," said Brian Binnie, SpaceShipOne's pilot, on his way up to space at Mach 3.
Binnie, now only the second person in history to earn his commercial astronaut wings, reported a shaky flight with "a little roll" but did not experience the 29 rolls Mike Melvill experienced last week.
"The experience is quite literally a rush," he said. "You light off the vehicle and the world wakes up around you."
Video is available here, here, and here.
Posted by elkaim at October 4, 2004 4:52 PM