http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/04/spaceshipone_claims_x_prize/


    SpaceShipOne claims X-Prize

By Lester Haines
<http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2004/10/04/spaceshipone_claims_x_prize/>
Published Monday 4th October 2004 15:24 GMT

Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne appears to have today claimed the $10m Ansari
X-Prize <http://www.xprize.org/> as the first private space vehicle to
successfully make two trips to above 100km within a two-week window. The
triumph came on the anniversary of the 1957 launch of Sputnik - the
first man-made object to leave Earth's atmosphere.

The craft was manned by test pilot Brian Binnie, rather than Mike
Melvill who took SpaceShipOne to 102.8km last Wednesday.

SpaceShipOne is the brainchild of aviation pioneer Burt Rutan and was
constructed by the Paul Allen-funded Scaled Composites
<http://www.scaled.com/>. It has a solid booster rocket which propels
the vehicle vertically upwards after release from its White Knight
mothership at around 14km. After skirting the edge of space, it simply
"shuttlecocks" back through the upper atmosphere - a technique designed
to reduce the craft's velocity and thereby remove the need for
substantial heat sheilding - until it reaches an altitude at which the
conventional controls become effective. SpaceShipOne then glides back to
base.

SpaceShipOne first flew to 64km on 13 June. On 29 September it made the
first of its two X-Prize flights, exceeding 100km despite suffering
serious roll during its vertical ascent. Today's flight appears to have
passed without incident. Although some slight roll could be observed
during the boost phase of the mission, it seems that Binnie managed to
bring this under control before he got the "tumble dryer" treatment. The
as-yet-unconfirmed figures say that the second flight reached 114.64km.

The news of SpaceShipOne's success will be welcomed by all those
would-be astronauts prepared to shell out substantial sums for the trip
of a lifetime. British entrepreneur Richard Branson recently announced
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/27/virgin_space_flights/> he would
buy five scaled-up versions of SpaceShipOne to offer mere mortals a
quick jaunt to the edge of space for £100,000

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