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SpaceShipOne in first successful attempt for the XPrize
Sep 29, 2004 15: 02 EST
SpaceShipOne made it, coming down in good shape in a deadstick landing (no engine). The flight had a terrifying 60 second spin of around 40 rolls straight after the launch from the carrier rocket White Knight, upon leaving the atmosphere.
Seat belt on, still in vertical trajectory, Mike regained control of the ship, continued to space and came back enduring 5G on re-entrance. Just before landing, Mike did another roll - this one voluntary to signal mission accomplished.
This is the first successful attempt for the XPrize. The $10 million prize is given to the first privately financed team who can make two successful manned space flights in a craft able to carry three people.
Mike carried with him additional weight equivalent of two passengers. The second flight will take place early October.
"We are heading to orbit sooner than you think," Burt Rutan, the creator said earlier. "We do not intend to stay in low-earth orbit for decades. The next 25 years will be a wild ride. ... One that history will note was done for the benefit of everyone."
Rutan said he expects the flight of SpaceShipOne to have an effect comparable to a set of public demonstrations that the Wright brothers carried out in Paris in 1908.
The reason, Rutan said, is because those demonstrations showed people "that's something I can do, because a couple of bicycle shop guys can do it". In the same way, he said, this low-cost flight into space will lead people to realise that "hey, this is something for us to do now, this is not just for governments ".
Vulcan, Inc and Scaled Composites the companies behind SpaceShipOne, are of 24 companies from several countries competing for the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which will go to the first privately funded group to send three people on a suborbital flight 62.5 miles (100.6 kilometers) high and repeat the feat within two weeks using the same vehicle.
The nonprofit X Prize Foundation is sponsoring the contest to promote the development of a low-cost, efficient craft for space tourism in the same way prize competitions stimulated commercial aviation in the early 20th century.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has invested more than $20 million in Scaled Composites to create the manned program -- a fraction of what government-sponsored efforts have cost.
"Space flight is not only for governments to do," Rutan said. "Clearly, there's an enormous pent-up hunger to fly into space and not just dream about it."
The craft embodies several innovations, including a unique hybrid rocket motor, a new method of re-entering the atmosphere that requires no active controls, and the first operational space vehicle made entirely of carbon composite rather than metal.
It was a tough choice among four experienced test pilots: Brian Binnie, Mike Melvill, Doug Shane, and Pete Siebold.
Of that group, Mike Melvill has chalked up the most time behind the controls of SpaceShipOne, counting captive flights, freefall glides and the last powered flight of the craft. He has worked for Burt Rutan for over 26 years and has some 24 years of experience as an experimental test pilot.
Mike Melvill's Resume
First flight of the following:
Model 72 GRIZZLY prototype, a short take-off and landing bush plane.
Model 77 SOLITAIRE prototype, a self-launching single place sailplane.
Model 81 CATBIRD prototype, a high performance 5 place general aviation aircraft.
Model 120 PREDATOR prototype, a high performance crop duster.
Model 144 prototype, ultimately flown as a UAV.
GAU-12/U25mm cannon in the Model 151 ARES jet fighter.
Model 202 BOOMERANG, Burt’s unconventional high performance twin.
Model 226 RAPTOR, later flown as an RPV.
Model 281 PROTEUS, a high altitude research twin engine jet.
Model 316 SPACESHIPONE
Participated in the flight testing of the following:
Beech Starship prototype (NGBA)
Fairchild’s Next Generation Trainer for the US Air Force (NGT)
ARES, a single engine, ground support jet fighter.
Pond Racer, a twin engine racing plane, designed to break the unlimited piston powered world speed record.
He is the only person to have flown in the Voyager Aircraft besides Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager.
Total flight time: 6950 hours in 127 fixed wing and 11 helicopters
Holds FAA Commercial certificate, ASEL, AMEL, instrument airplane, Rotorcraft-helicopter and Glider
Associate Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots
Was awarded the Ivan C. Kincheloe trophy in 1999 for his work on developmental high altitude flight testing of the model 281 Proteus
Member of the Aircraft Owners’ and Pilots’ Association
Member of the Experimental Aircraft Association
Personally built and flight tested:
Model 27 Variviggen
Model 61 Long-EZ
Flew his Long-EZ around the world in 1997.
Image of Mike, courtesy xcor.com
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