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SpaceShipOne Rockets To 68,000 Feet

Posted by simoniker on from the that's-quite-high dept.

ehartwell writes "According to Space.com, Scaled Composite's SpaceShipOne flew its first rocket-powered flight today, the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' 12-second first flight. SpaceShipOne's engine burned for 15 seconds, pushing it to Mach 1.2 (930 mph) and a peak altitude of 68,000 feet. To win the X-Prize they need to reach 330,000 feet twice within 2 weeks."

7 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. And so it begins. by ActionPlant · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How long before commercial spaceflight tickets are offered by competing commercial organizations and WE get to pick the craft?

    Damon,

    --
    http://actionPlant.com
  2. Can't wait by cybermace5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When industry gets on the ball and starts developing space programs, we'll start seeing some real progress. Of course NASA's work is extremely valuable, but we need commercial support to really get things done. Satellites have been a huge success; now all we need is a very attractive financial reason to develop space commerce.

    It might start off slow, though; in the end it will probably require starting an entirely new economic sector. Why do we need to mine asteroids and build huge solar collectors? To supply energy and materials for other space structures, of course. A self-perpetuating system like that is going to take time to build up. Satellites plug in very well to Earth's existing economy, but where does manned space exploration fit in....

    --
    ...
  3. 50 years from now... by RobertB-DC · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I did a quick Google on the first time humans passed the "sound barrier" in 1947. 50 years later, every school kid knows^W should know Chuck Yeager's name.

    50 years from now, will the class of 2060 recognize the name "Brian Binnie"? If this works out, they darn well should... especially if he's the one who gets to fly the craft "for real", twice in two weeks.

    * 1903: Orville & Wilbur Wright achieve controlled, manned flight (but birds fly on a regular basis)

    * 1947: Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in a military aircraft (but ordinary people fly on a regular basis)

    * 2003: Brian Binnie breaks the sound barrier in a home-built spacecraft prototype (but ordinary people fly faster than sound on a regular basis)

    * 2050: What's the next big advance when ordinary people fly to space on a regular basis?

    I was sure rooting for the local boys (& girl), but I don't see how they can catch up to Scaled Composites' entry.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
    1. Re:50 years from now... by mabhatter654 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The joke is that most of the companies involved are getting their money from childhood "geeks" that made it big on toys or games and Still went to school to learn the "real work" we were all told in the 70's and 80's was so important. I find it more ironic that the very goverment that told kids to be astronauts and rocket scientists has a problem with them Actually being astronauts and rocket scientists WITHOUT govt help!

  4. Supersonic Homebuilt by CmdrTostado · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Bede Jet Corp.BD-10 may have been the first manned supersonic flight onboard a plane designed by a small private company It was a deadly, short lived, supersonic HOMEBUILT. Go supersonic, from your garage.
    a fan's page
    Results so far
    The first one crashed, and the second one crashed as well. Each crash killed the then-president of the company developing the BD-10 for the market. Rights to the design were bounced around for a while, and I believe it's pretty much in limbo, now. At one point, a Canadian outfit was trying to develop it as a low-cost military trainer, but nothing came of it. I think there were four originally built... the Bede prototype, two crashed as noted above, and one constructed by a customer. There are two listed in the 2001 registration database. The prototype is still listed as being owned by Bede Jet Corporation, and the other one is registered to a man in California.(text from http://www.ipilot.com/learn/expert-view.asp?cur=0& cid=3)

  5. Re:What altitude? by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's a semi-official definition of space. Anything below 100km is atmospheric, and the FAA takes jurisdiction. Above 100km, it's space, and nobody much does; until reentry.

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    -WolfWithoutAClause

    "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
  6. You want to know you can get back down by johnjay · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Building a vehicle that's guaranteed to come back to Earth is a good first goal. Carmack's team is basically building a huge rocket to go up, and a parachute to make the coming down part survivable. Consider the extra math, physics, and computer processing that would have to go into getting back to Earth once you are in orbit. Sure it can be done, but wouldn't you want to test the other parts of the process first?

    As far as I can understand, this contests involves building larger than commercially available rocket engines, managing small-scale life support, dealing with simple launch paths, and surviving re-entry stress that doesn't involve serious heat. (I might be wrong on some of these, and I might not have realized other essential things involved) You can see how all of those pieces are simpler aspects of a full-blown orbital launch.