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Topic: 1st Civilan Space Flight (Read 194 times)

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1st Civilan Space Flight
« on: Jun 21^st, 2004, 5:16pm »

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Private craft soars into space, history
By Michael Coren
CNN

MOJAVE, California (CNN) -- The man who became the first person to pilot a privately built craft into space called his flight "almost a religious experience" after his safe landing Monday morning.

Test pilot Mike Melvill landed at Mojave Airport, about 80 miles north of Los Angeles, California, about 8:15 a.m. (11:15 a.m. ET) after taking the rocket plane SpaceShipOne to an altitude of more than 100 kilometers (62.5 miles) -- the internationally recognized boundary of space.

Melvill told reporters he had "a hell of a view from 62 miles."

"The colors were pretty staggering from up there," he said.

"Looking from the Earth up there, you know, it's almost a religious experience. It's an awesome thing to see. You can see the curvature of the Earth. I could see all the way out, way out past the islands off the coast of Los Angeles."

At 7:51 a.m. (10:51 a.m. ET), Melvill ignited the rocket engines and piloted SpaceShipOne into the blackness of space.

Melvill said once he reached weightlessness, he opened a bag of M&M's in the cockpit, and the candies floated for three minutes while the ship soared high above California.

The rocket plane lifted off about 6:45 a.m. (9:45 a.m. ET), carried by the jet White Knight for an hourlong ascent.

At 7:35 a.m, it reached 33,000 feet, and the jet's pilot reported all systems checked out for SpaceShipOne's launch.

It received clearance to land and "go for light" -- the signal to begin launch countdown -- 11 minutes later.

The pair approached 50,000 feet, and SpaceShipOne decoupled from the jet. After a brief glide, Melvill ignited the engines and ascended at Mach 3, three times the speed of sound, into space.

From the cockpit, the Earth's curvature and a thin blue line that demarcates the atmosphere was visible against the black sky. Melvill, the first astronaut to pilot a private spacecraft, maneuvered the plane for descent on the same runway it had left nearly two hours earlier.

On landing, Melvill told of a loud bang he heard during the flight. He said it appeared to have been part of the composite airframe buckling near the rocket nozzle. However, the slight indention in SpaceShipOne's exterior did not appear to have jeopardized the craft's performance.

"There was a lot [of] thrust from the plane," Melvill said. "It took me by surprise back there. Everything went really well. I feel great."

The flight marks the pinnacle so far of Burt Rutan's vision of affordable, safe, private space travel. His company, Scaled Composites, built SpaceShipOne with financial backing from Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft Corp., for a little more than $20 million. Rutan said the flight, which went from a concept in 1995 to reality less than a decade later, was the realization of a long dream.

"I'm so proud of that, it brings tears to my eyes," he said.

The rocket plane made its farthest and fastest flight to date.

A prelude to future flights
Those on hand for the launch included officials from NASA, the FAA, the X Prize foundation and the Guinness Book of Records. Peter Diamandis, co-founder of the X Prize, the $10 million award intended to spur civilian spaceflight, said Rutan's vision would open the door for those with the same dream.

"This is a warm-up for the Ansari X Prize, but it's a historic moment for all Americans," he said. "[I've heard], 'If God wanted us to fly into space, he would have given us more money'. Hopefully, the technology demonstrated here today will lead to designs that are cheaper and easier."

Scaled Composites is one of 24 companies from several countries competing for the X Prize, which will go to the first privately funded group to send three people on a suborbital flight 62.5 miles high and repeat the feat within two weeks using the same vehicle.

Monday's flight tested SpaceShipOne's ability to reach the 62.5-mile altitude only. Scaled Composites intends to try for the X Prize later this year.

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.

The prize is fully funded through January 1, 2005, according to the foundation's Web site.

Spectators witness history
The remote Mojave Airport, a licensed spaceport and the world's only civilian test flight center, also played host to an assortment of vehicles that converged on the site from around the country.

Buses, RVs, electric scooters, small ultralights and a variety of other vehicles were parked in the sandy soil across from the runway.

Many of the spectators said there was a feeling of history in the air. Some said that after waiting decades, they were finally witnessing the first steps toward spaceflight for them.

Josh Collins, 25, said he had flown from Maryland to see the attempt.

"Some people thought I was crazy, other people are jealous," he said.

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #1 on: Jun 21^st, 2004, 5:16pm »

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What an awesome adventure.

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #2 on: Jun 21^st, 2004, 6:41pm »

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I must admit I'm a little envious, this is something I'd like to have experienced in my life and suspect at this stage I never will, so I will just have to live vicariously through these people and be thrilled for them.

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #3 on: Jun 21^st, 2004, 6:43pm »

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Private rocket ship breaks space barrier
History-making pilot copes with serious control problem

By Alan Boyle
Science editor
MSNBC
Updated: 7:14 p.m. ET June 21, 2004MOJAVE, Calif. - With a triumphant thumbs-up and a broad grin, the pilot of the SpaceShipOne rocket plane celebrated becoming the first private-sector astronaut to steer his ship into space by less than a tenth of a mile.

"I feel great, I really do!" pilot Mike Melvill exclaimed after emerging from his craft on the tarmac of the Mojave Airport here.

Melvill's exultant comments capped SpaceShipOne's wildest ride since its rollout a year ago. During the flight, he had to cope with a serious glitch with the flight control system that knocked the plane 22 miles off course in a matter of seconds. Melvill switched to a backup system that he said "saved the day."

But the problem meant the 63-year-old South Africa native had to cut his spaceward rise short and the plane's designer, Burt Rutan of Mojave-based Scaled Composites, said the unofficial data indicated that the craft reached a top altitude of 328,491 feet (100.12 kilometers). That's just 408 feet (124 meters) above the internationally recognized boundary of outer space.

On the way down, Melvill experienced 5 G's of acceleration more than shuttle astronauts feel during their descent.

"I was not afraid all the way up, but I was a little afraid on the way down," he told journalists at a postflight news conference.

New page in history books
Despite the white-knuckle moments, Melvill, Rutan and the rest of the Scaled Composites team wrote a new page in the aviation history books marking an era in private suborbital spaceflight that some hope will open the final frontier to regular tourists.

"It may take many decades," said California millionaire Dennis Tito, who became the first paying space passenger in 2001 when he took an orbital flight on a Russian spacecraft to the international space station. "It may take 50 to 100 years. But it's going to lead to a new industry."

Melvill's flight has turned him into the new star on the space scene, and he was being courted by late-night and morning news TV shows. He showed off a lucky horseshoe that he had pinned to his flight suit, a gift he made for his wife while he was courting her, more than four decades ago.

"I've worn it on my shoulder every flight, and so far it's kept the luck for me," he said.

A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records, David Hawksett, officially recognized Monday's effort as the "first-ever privately funded manned spaceflight." And Patti Grace Smith, the Federal Aviation Administration's associate administrator for commercial space transportation, awarded Melvill the first astronaut wings ever granted by the FAA and the Department of Transportation.

After Smith gave Rutan a certificate celebrating the achievement, Rutan gave Smith a peck on the cheek, then quipped: "Now, don't ever say that Burt Rutan doesn't kiss up to the FAA."

Cheers going up and down
An estimated 11,000 spectators whooped as SpaceShipOne's contrail zoomed almost straight up in the desert sky, and cheered again when Melvill and his ship were rolled past the reviewing stands. After greeting Melvill with a bear hug on the tarmac, Rutan said he was filled with emotion several times during the roughly 90-minute flight.

"I just can't tell you how pleased I am," he said.

Melvill, a veteran test pilot who holds several world aviation records, got a taste of the suborbital experience felt in the 1960s by early NASA astronauts and X-15 pilots. He almost gushed over the sight of the curving Earth beneath the blackness of space.

"You really do get the feeling that you've touched the face of God," he said.

The flight wasn't all seriousness: "When I got to the top, I released a bag of M&Ms in the cockpit," he told the crowd from the tarmac. "It was amazing -- the M&Ms were just flying around."

'Fairly wild ride'
But serious concerns arose after an initial review of the flight data. Rutan said SpaceShipOne would not fly again until the source of the flight control problem was identified and fixed.

"The anomaly we had today is the most serious flight system safety problem we have had in the entire program," he told reporters.

In addition, Melvill had to deal with a roll of the rocket plane during its ascent, and was surprised by an unexpected booming sound. Afterward, Melvill and Rutan said the boom was apparently caused by the buckling of a fairing that was added to the rocket plane's engine nozzle for this record-setting flight.

"Sounds like it was a fairly wild ride," said Dick Rutan, Burt's brother, who set a record of his own in 1986 by flying the Voyager aircraft around the world nonstop without refueling.

The project was funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, a billionaire who says he spent "in excess of $20 million" on SpaceShipOne.

"I had my heart in my throat when I watched this," he said of Monday's flight. "And I hope everybody had a good time."

Carnival atmosphere
The Mojave Airport's sprawling grounds took on the atmosphere of an air show, with some fans arriving two days early and setting up camp in a freshly graded stretch of sandy desert. Cars streamed into the parking lot starting Sunday night and continued nearly up to takeoff time at about 6:45 a.m. PT (9:45 a.m. ET). Space celebrities such as moonwalker Buzz Aldrin milled around a VIP area, while regular folks thronged the souvenir stands and viewing areas.

"This is bigger than Kitty Hawk," said one of the onlookers, Tim Reeves, 60, who had driven to Mojave from Los Angeles the night before. "At Kitty Hawk they didn't have visions of 747s dancing in their heads. Here, everybody knows what this portends for private spaceflight."

SpaceShipOne had a large supporting cast for the main show: For takeoff, the rocket plane was nestled beneath its alien-looking White Knight carrier airplane, another of Burt Rutan's creations. Several chase planes followed along. About an hour after sailing into the clear desert sky, at an altitude of almost 50,000 feet, the White Knight released its companion craft, and Melvill lit up his rocket engine for the nearly straight-up blast, lasting about 70 seconds.

During descent, SpaceShipOnes wings folded into a high-drag configuration turning the craft into a self-stabilizing shuttlecock. In the final stage of the 25-minute descent, SpaceShipOne straightened its wings again and glided to a landing.

Eyes on the prize
Mondays test flight represented a step toward winning the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which would be awarded to the first team to send a spaceship carrying a pilot and the weight of two passengers to an altitude of 100 kilometers twice within two weeks.

This flight wont qualify for the prize, because SpaceShipOne carried only Melvill. Rutan said he had hoped to start a 60-day countdown toward an X Prize attempt within a matter of days, but the investigation into the anomaly may affect that hoped-for timetable.

Rutan has been reticent about his post-X Prize plans, saying he always tries to avoid talking about future projects.

"One of our lessons learned from doing this program is that it is a very good idea to not reveal to the media what were doing until we have to," Rutan said Sunday, "because if I had to do this even occasionally, wed be a year behind."

But Allen has indicated that the technology developed for SpaceShipOne could be applied in future suborbital space tourism ventures. Over the weekend, Allen said the technology was jointly owned by Mojave Aerospace, a corporation that was set up with Allen. Rutan said he had a share in the corporation by virtue of his intellectual property, but "the majority value is the funding that Paul brought to it."

Allen said that once the X Prize is won, "that opens up a whole host of opportunities to do other things."

Rutan and other experts have suggested that such seats could go for $30,000 to $100,000 initially, and drop to the price of a sports utility vehicle as larger commercial space vehicles are built.

"It's fair to say as you scale up the number of passengers, the price goes down dramatically," Allen said after Monday's flight.

Š 2004 MSNBC Interactive

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #4 on: Jun 22^nd, 2004, 3:38pm »

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wow... that was definitely a breath-taking experience... imagine the future when you can travel to outer space just like Star Wars, Star Trek and other space exploration shows... Cheesy

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #5 on: Jun 25^th, 2004, 1:08pm »

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I think I'll get to see 'Space Tourism' in my lifetime. I'm sure tickets will not be cheap! I'll start saving some money so that I can go to space when I'm 80 years young. :laugh:

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #6 on: Jun 27^th, 2004, 11:53am »

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We are on our way baby! I myself would love to experience such a thing.

I hope they have it sooner than later. Aerosmith want to be the first band to play on outerspace, and even want to make reservations... Steven(me!) is just full of excitement!

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #7 on: Jun 29^th, 2004, 1:44am »

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Aerosmith wants to play in outer space?! no body would hear their music up there... Lips Sealed

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #8 on: Jun 29^th, 2004, 12:19pm »

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Well its a given that they will play it with some gadgets for us in Earth to hear. Much like how astraonauts communicate.

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Re: 1st Civilan Space Flight
« Reply #9 on: Jun 29^th, 2004, 4:47pm »

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That would be very odd. Won't the guitars float around while they're playing it? Seems like it will be like carrying the guitar by only by your hands (since shoulder straps are useless in space, I think).

Now, would we see in the future a headline like: 'Civilian Space Crafts Safer than Airplanes' ?

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