June 03, 2004
1st private manned space flight happens June 21st!
Eric Pavao passes on this fantastic news: SpaceShipOne will be making its first historic flight from Mojave in less than 3 weeks:
Mojave, CA: A privately-developed rocket plane will launch into history on June 21 on a mission to become the world's first commercial manned space vehicle. Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan have teamed to create the program, which will attempt the first non-governmental flight to leave the earth's atmosphere.
Posted by Russell Whitaker at June 3, 2004 02:50 PM | TrackBack
Paul G. Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan have teamed to create a manned space program, which will attempt the first non-governmental flight to leave the earth's atmosphere. SpaceShipOne will rocket to 100 kilometers (62 miles) into sub-orbital space above the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center, a commercial airport in the California desert. If successful, it will demonstrate that the space frontier is finally open to private enterprise. This event could be the breakthrough that will enable space access for future generations.
Even if the spaceflight itself fails, we're already about to reap some of the benefits from this competition. I saw a news story a while ago about how the jet that carries the space vehicle is going into production as a low-cost "air taxi" type of jet. Cost per mile was ridiculously low, and the sticker price was under $1 million. Given the increasingly annoying hassle of airport security, I can see a real future in jet-based air taxis that operate out of small town airports. What a lot of people don't realize is that the vast majority of airports don't have control towers and don't have security goons. What the best of them do have, however, is excellent customer service.
Posted by: Bob Tipton on June 3, 2004 03:46 PM[soapbox]
Yeah, it's space, if you consider 100km "space".
I'm reserving my joy-jump for passenger-paid orbit.
BTW, have y'all noticed the inventive method of propulsion? The rocket fuel is tire-rubber and nitrous oxide. In other words, a re-startable solid. Cheap, effective, safe.
The jet-jockies always thought people would simply fly higher, and faster, until orbit was achieved. This whole impossibly wasteful "blast off" thing was created as a shortcut to get there with lower technology for political reasons. Governments are the only ones who can afford to routinely throw away 90% of their vehicle.
[/soapbox]
Posted by: Curt Howland on June 4, 2004 07:16 AMI think the excitement is as much about the symbolism as it is about the practicalities.
There are many who genuinely believe that science, the arts, exploration and all 'extraneous' forms of human endeavour would dissappear under a capitalist system. This event is another step towards showing that the tax dollar funded NASA behemoth isn't necessary.
Posted by: Monica on June 4, 2004 08:22 AM