SpaceShipOne slams the X-Prize
The best report I have seen is
this one at CNN -- lots of other links to images and videos.
bq. SpaceShipOne achieved its most spectacular flight yet, climbing to an altitude of 377,591 feet (71 1/2 miles), eight miles beyond what was needed to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
bq. 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.
bq. 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.
bq. "Today we have made history. Today we go to the stars," said Peter Diamandis, co-founder of the X Prize Foundation.
They also have a great quote and story from Burt Rutan:
bq. Winning the X Prize with SpaceShipOne is only the beginning for Rutan.
bq. "I have a hell of a lot bigger goal now (than NASA)," he said.
bq. He is now determined to supply the craft for Virgin Galactic.
bq. "I absolutely have to develop a space tourism system that is at least 100 times safer than anything that has flown man into space, and probably significantly more than that," Rutan said.
One small step...
Posted by DaveH at October 4, 2004 1:57 PM