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SpaceShipOne Flight Completed Successfully
knothead99 writes "CNN is reporting the successful liftoff of SpaceShipOne from a runway in the Mojave desert. Around 10:30 EDT the craft will reach an altitude of 50,000 feet and they'll separate from White Knight and ignite the rocket for space entry. More information can also be found at the Mojave Airport website" Update: 06/21 15:36 GMT by S : An MSNBC story confirms that SpaceShipOne 'glided safely back to Earth, landing back at the Mojave Airport' around 8.15AM PST.
So... you're telling Slashdot to go to some page and keep hitting refresh?
Reckless, don't you think?
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Around 10:30 EDT the craft will reach an altitude of 50,000 feet...
What's wrong with this picture?
Let's see 'em try to do the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs!
So... you're telling Slashdot to go to some page and keep hitting refresh?
lol, after careful thought and consideration (or lack thereof...) that might not have been the best idea, but its a popular site, almost all text, and it has been reasonably fast all morning. (some delays toward appex). I am assuming they can handle the load. There is, of course, no mirror.
Actually, the site says to "hit refresh" to get the latest news. Its mainly just single or two sentence updates.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
I was in an inland spaceport at the oxford valley mall over 20 years ago.
Did Mike crank "Magic Carpet Ride" on his way up?
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
"5. ... The flight vehicle must return from both flights substantially intact, as defined by and in the sole judgment of the ANSARI X PRIZE Review Board, such that the vehicle is reusable."
"Uh, son? Seem's like y'all got a taillight t'aint workin'."
"Really officer? Which one?"
*BLAM!*
"That one, son. Y'all gonna hafta get this vee-hickle offa this heah runway. Heh heh heh..."
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
I think it's a great idea to use references to three different time zones (EDT, GMT, PST) in the headline. That's not confusing at all. (I'm acutally not confused by it in the least, but come on people!)
I liked the comment the pilot made about opening a Package of M&M's in the cockpit while weightless. He said he enjoyed seeing them float around and that they are all over the place inside. Thought it was neat he had a little time to mess around with fun stuff.
Sounded like the Simpson's bit when Homer opened a bag of chips. I think Burt Rutan used alot of inanimate carbon rods in the construction oF the ship too.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
If you can read this sig - the bitch fell off.
Tier Two: ???
Tier Three: Profit!!!
Joking aside, I hope the design scales well.
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
Why is it when I read articles about this all I can picture is an episode of monster garage where jesse james comes out and tells the contestents "okay this week you're going to turn a '91 honda civic into a sub-orbital spacecraft, and you have to make is safe 'cus I'm gonna fly it."
They fed the astronaut chilli beans prior to the flight "Just in case!"
No! It was on the wing, tearing at it! I swear it was there!
Sorry but your knowledge of basic high school physics (first semester) is appalling (leads me to believe that you're a little young ).
Also space rockets only work inside the atmosphere, where there is air to push against. There was a special on Fox all about it.
Takes 3 days to get to the moon IIRC. Besides, there's nothing worth seeing there except the theme park.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
It's not a matter of speed, it's a matter of velocity! If your speed is directed towards the earth, it won't help you much.
Daniel
Carpe Diem
Mike Melvill, you have just become the first private astronout, what are you going to do next? Go to Disney [world,land]!
Well, Alan Shepard was sitting in a spacesuit full of urine, does that count?
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
100 million $ For the first commercial moon shot?
Followed by the Z-Prize of 1 billion $ for the first commercial interstellar flight to Proxima Centauri.
Or how about 1 quadrillion Quatloos for the first inter-dimensional "slide"?
Why, oh why isn't there a Moderate: Missed the Point -1 available?
"..three loud bangs..."
Mojave, we have a problem...
"To Infinity, and Beyond!"
Did you see Air Force One? If the "chased" plane gets in trouble, the pilot would pop the hatch and toss a line to a chase plane. He then attaches a device to the line and repels out of his plane and over to the chase plane.
This is the real genius of Ratan's design. The White Knight is one of the chase planes, and since it has the same cockpit as the SpaceShipOne vehicle, the SpaceShipOne pilot would not become disoriented if he had to hop over to White Knight due to some unforeseen emergency.
75 years: someone who posts to Slashdot comments will actually get laid and Slashdot will report it 2 hours after the fact.
I can't get over how many Slashdotters don't know the simple physics of satellite orbits.
Yeah, that bugs me too... I mean, come on people, it's not rocket science!
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
Now that would be embarassing... "June 21: Went up to 100km. Saw black sky during day. First civilian to pilot in space. Would have gone higher, but accidentally turned off engine (nobody looking, still high enough). Heard loud noise on way back. Forgot to put down landing gear (11,000 people watching).
"June 22: Biked into tree (nobody looking). Space is easier; nothing to run into."
CNN also repeatedly said Mike Melvill was the first civilian astronaut. I'm sure this came as a surprise to Neil Armstrong, who apparently spent his entire military career unaware he was in the military.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Not necessarily, provided the infinite fuel supply is already where the ship is at all points in its journey, such as a zero-point field that it draws energy off of.
Plus, you can't really go at whatever velocity you want as velocity is a vector. You need a velocity that takes you away from the Earth, otherwise you could move at a velocity that would try to take you right through the Earth, which would not be a very good thing for you or your craft.
Ye can'ne change the laws of physics
- Scotty
wernt there three sonic booms before the delorean went back in time? Maybe thats why it took so long for this story to hit the slashdot frontpage.
Wow! M$! You used a dollar sign instead of the letter S! That is brilliant! You are the most original nonconformist ever! Such an iconoclast!
Yeah, but thier main spacecraft is pedal-powered.
--
What would Bill Clinton do?
Um, that last "9" in your sig should be a "6".
All it takes is nukes and nerves.
I've made a number of trips to underprivileged nations to get a feel for conditions there.
The Bahamas and Cancoon don't count.
...in that we should expect these guys with the pointy ears come down now and greet us ?
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
I think that these pilots are old fighter jocks, every maneuver they did was right out of the sun. Unfortunately, the people on the ground weren't the enemy, but were the fans :)
:)
It was an awe-inspiring show. It seems the crowds were about the same as those at the Voyager landing in '86 -- my wife joked that they were probably the same people, a little grayer and a little longer in the tooth
thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
Florida is a LONG glide from Russia for something that effectively drops like a brick.
Which reminds me of something I heard once about the Shuttle Atlantis.
"How would you like," the pithy quote goes, "to try to land a dead-stick glider on a tiny strip of land in the middle of the ocean when the vehicle you're riding in was named after something that disappeared beneath the ocean without a trace?"
I write in my journal
Yes, I'm fully aware, that's the whole point of the sig. You're only the second person to find it, though, so congratulations. :-)
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
How about a really big trampoline - has anybody ever thought of that?