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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.

8 of 998 comments (clear)

  1. Landed by bergr · · Score: -1, Redundant

    They already landed successfully.

    --
    //b
  2. w00t! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    God Speed my man! What a day :)

  3. Successful launch and landing by chrylis · · Score: 0, Redundant

    CNN also has the full story, still being rewritten as of now.

  4. Re:Question by Ford+Prefect · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Also space rockets only work inside the atmosphere, where there is air to push against. There was a special on Fox all about it.

    Umm...

    The bell-shaped nozzle of a rocket engine is designed for a particular external air pressure (due to expansion of the exhaust gases), but rockets most definitely do work in space. Newton's Third Law, and all that.

    --
    Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
  5. Re:Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    escape velocity is defined as the initial velocity necessary to leave the Earth's gravity well provided that there is no additional acceleration

    you might wanna think about that one again.

    As long as your acceleration away from Earth is greater than than the Earth's gravitational acceleration at your distance from it, you will eventually escape Earth's gravity well, and at a speed of much less than Mach 25 to boot.

    that too.

    //the brain

  6. But can they do it TWICE in two weeks, for the 10? by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 0, Redundant
    He said he had one scary moment when he heard a loud bang during the flight. Pointing toward a buckled section at the rear of SpaceShipOne, he suggested it may have been the source of noise.

    I wonder if this will prevent them from getting it back up there within the two weeks required to win the 10 mil?

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  7. Re:Question by Alien+Being · · Score: 0, Redundant

    What a maroon.