June 21, 2004
Space history to be made in less than 7 hours
The world's first privately funded manned spaceflight will occur in less than 7 hours from now, with the takeoff of the carrier ship and spaceship from Mojave Airport at 0630 California time.
Posted by Russell Whitaker at June 21, 2004 12:06 AM | TrackBackUp and back safely. For the X-Prize, I hereby recommend that Gen. Chuck Yeager be one of the passengers. By Cromm, that would be poetic justice!
Since he flew the X-15, he's likely already got the astronaut's wings...
Posted by: Curt Howland on June 21, 2004 09:55 AMI consider this to be a Really Big Deal, and I'm not even a space buff. This has essentially demonstrated that (relatively) inexpensive space travel is not only possible, but possible now. This is no less significant that the discovery of a new continent, and it carries the associated good prospects for expanding freedom. If we can dig in our heels and prevent the goverment from taking this over, there will truly be the opportunity to form a free society elsewhere. That's truly worth fighting for.
Posted by: Bob Tipton on June 21, 2004 02:17 PMYeager never flew the X-15, though he did fly the NF-104A Aerospace Trainer, an F-104 modified with rocket boost and attitude controls, setting a short lived altitude record. He also went into a flat spin on another flight in it of nearly 100,000 feet before punching out, which I think still is a record, and one that no one wants to break.
He never flew high enough for astronaut wings.
Posted by: Steve Van Sickle on June 21, 2004 04:23 PM