http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm20366_20040621.htm

 

from Detroit Free Press a few minutes ago

 

first commercial space(?) flight

at 100 km was nominally out of the atmosphere?

I believe that SpaceShipOne isn't eligible for the X-Prize as it has to carry at least three people (one pilot and two passengers) to win.

 

But doing it first is all that really matters. My sister's boyfriend (soon to be husband) in California has gone to go see it launch, so hopefully he'll be able to report back and give us a first-hand tale of it.

And they have to do it twice in 2 weeks.

I believe that SpaceShipOne isn't eligible for the X-Prize as it has to carry at least three people (one pilot and two passengers) to win.

 

correct me if I am wrong

I believe that SpaceShipOne is capable of carrying two passengers (is this correct?) but that on today's flight there was just the pilot

 

as I understand it, there have to be two flights (with passengers) in a 2 week period

 

if the craft is capable of carrying 3 including pilot then it seems eligible to win the prize

Why else would they build it if it wasn't eligible for the X-Prize?

It can carry 3 people.

Ah, my mistake. I thought I remembered that it could only carry one person from an article in NewScientist, but they must have been talking about one of the others. :S

 

By the way, am I the only one who's completely amazed that a private company could be the fourth independant party in history to launch a spacecraft into space (after Russia, the USA, then China, which are all entire countries)? Why haven't any other countries tried this yet? I know the ESA works on this, but usually in cooperation with other agencies, like NASA.

ESA encorporates a lot of countries, and they launch a lot of rockets. Other countries don't do it because they quite frankly don't have the money. It's an extremely expensive business. Something like SpaceShipOne is like a small balloon compared to Saturn V and the Space Shuttle.

 

They said they were going to test the craft today (which they have), and then they'd make a serious bid at the X-Prize. My guess is by mid-July, they'll have claimed it.

Why else would they build it if it wasn't eligible for the X-Prize?

I believe the reports today said they began design before the prize was anounced. The ship that went before the spaceship to film the flight when it got higher up was also designed by them. They have been into this stuff long before the prize. It's just nice that half of their expenses will be recovered if they win.

I think they definately deserve it; today's a milestone in the history of manned space flight and they made it possible.

the part that astonished me was when it was at peak height and he threw 2 handfuls of sweets into the air to watch them float about! I can`t imagine NASA allowing something like that just before re-entry LOL

it was done with a real sense of fun and adventure, the way it should be in my opinion, interesting to note that he didn`t have a space suit on and just before taking off, he`de got his arm outside of the craft through a little hole waving at everyone! )

 

all he needed was a 6 pack of beer and a Van Halen CD playing in the cockpit, what a rush!

I think the FAA might have said something if he'd been drinking and flying at the same time