SpaceShipOne Back in Action

JoeSilva writes "After a 3 month wait, Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne is back in the skies above Mojave! Not only is it patched up from a failed landing gear, it's got a 'thermal protection system' installed. Looks like high temp insulation on the leading edges. Also they have a picture of it with 'the rocket motor for the flight 13p'. This was the 12th SpaceShipOne flight."

Comments

How exciting!

[SeaDour]

It looks like it's only a small matter of time before they actually launch this thing into suborbital flight. I'm willing to bet that the two flights will take place by the end of this year. How I envy the chosen pilot for the mission...

Re:Lucky 13?

[gravelpup]

To win the X-Prize they would need 3 people in the SSO.

Close but not quite. It has to be capable of carrying three, but only has to carry one, plus the equivalent weight in ballast of the two other people.

From the X-Prize rules page:

The flight vehicle must be flown twice within a 14-day period. Each flight must carry at least one person, to minimum altitude of 100 km (62 miles). The flight vehicle must be built with the capacity (weight and volume) to carry a minimum of 3 adults of height 188 cm (6 feet 2 inches) and weight 90 kg (198 pounds) each. Three people of this size or larger must be able to enter, occupy, and be fastened into the flight vehicle on Earth's surface prior to take-off, and equivalent ballast must be carried in-flight if the number of persons on-board during flight is less than 3 persons.