Photos Of Rutan's X-Prize Entry

burdicda writes "I think you might be interest in what Burt Rutan has been up to, out there in the Mojave Desert. Take a look at these pictures."

Comments

Very secret

[billstr78]

the photos are so secret that only the first 4 people to click on the photos were able to see them before the server crumbled.

Re:Very secret

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not so much that they're secret, more that the poster failed to look up 'slashdotting' in their netiquette dictionary, where they would have discovered it's polite to ask the webmaster or server admin before linking.

The server's fine, and the webserver has a few more resources available now it's apparent that the extra traffic is legitimate; if you're patient you'll get the pics, and in the meantime, it's not disrupting the other things running on the server, so everyone's ahppy.

Hmmm

[bmiller949]

I saw all the images and read the FAQ on the site. There was no mention of what the in flight movie was :).

Re:Servers dead already

[gl4ss]

it still works, sort of. stupid still, posting a link to a gallery site. INTO A SLIDESHOW on a gallery..

nice pics anyways..

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/ the official page has some stuff too like a video clip..

this is news?

[pidhead]

Uh, did you miss the launch last week? What's new here?

Re:this is news?

[linuxelf]

With as fast as it was slashdotted, I guess it was new to someone!

Re:this is news?

[C10H14N2]

Yes, for those of you who have been living without internet, television, radio or print media of any kind for the last year...

"You may have been wondering?!?!" No, no I have not, because it has been plastered across every major news outlet for at least six months.

But, erm, thanks for the "heads up." Geezuz.

Re:this is news?

[Anonymous Coward]

The horrible automated slideshow is new.

Power

[Zorilla]

Amount of power to reach escape velocity > Amount of power needed to run Fisher Price(tm) My First Web Server

Re:Power

[0racle]

I think I just had a product idea.

Re:Power

[ktakki]

Someone beat you to it.

k.

Again, they're on the right track

[thephotoman]

I've said it before, but it's about time that the private sector got into space exploration. The government has gone about as far as it reasonably can in developing the actual process by which we go into space. Now, it should let private industry take the lead, as funding is generally more available in the private sector, and companies can often make decisions quicker than governments can.

This is also probably the best way of getting the public interested in space travel again, by involving them as participants, not just spectators.

NASA shouldn't be abandoned, as there's still room for government involvement, especially in strictly scientific missions like launching satelites. In fact, I'd propose that NASA retain its size, form, and function, but that it be a small percentage of space travel, not the majority of it originating in this country.

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[Anonymous Coward]

No, mods, he's not insightful; he's a back-of the envelope calculating, babbling know-nothing. please mod accordingly.

under no possible spin is the vast bulk of space-related activity even remotely profitable. under no possible scenario would a private company be able to come up with the sort of funding that is required for anything but routine satellite launches. the x-prize only exists because of wealthy people willing to lose money, not because anybody thinks the project will be profitable from an investment standpoint.

your idea of passing spaceflight to the private sector is so comical it should be marked 'troll.'

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's start by launching you.

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[Paddyish]

I think what you're trying to articulate is this:

NASA's role is that of the explorer - opening up new frontiers, blazing the first trail to the new world. A 'proof-of-concept' style approach.

Once the trail has been established and marked, the private sector should move in and commericialize as much as possible. I think that this delegation of responsibility is the best possible balance in getting mankind permanently off of earth and beyond our solar system.

FedEx may be better than the USPS, but who came first? Government involvement opens doors. The private sector enlarges those doors and makes it easier to reach the next set of challenges.

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[Bob_Robertson]

FedEx may be better than the USPS, but who came first?

Private mail did. Check the history books.

Bob-
(Negative moderators, vent your abuse on this one and leave the rest alone.)

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[Paddyish]

Who, where, when? It sounds like you've got some history books already read - don't just correct me, inform me!

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[wronkiew]

NASA shouldn't be abandoned, as there's still room for government involvement, especially in strictly scientific missions like launching satelites.

I think what you mean is space probes, not satellites. Launching satellites is not really a science project, and NASA hasn't been involved in it since 1986.

If NASA exists only to do science, though, how would it be any different from the NSF? Is there really a need for two government agencies that do the same thing?

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[Mac Degger]

For the lazy people amongst you:

you want information?

:P

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[FireFury03]

Government funded project suffer greatly from policy changes - the government decides they want to do something and the project is starter. Then part way through the project, the government gets kicked out of office for whatever reason (lose an election, etc) and the new government doesn't like the project so shut it down... wasting both time and money.
Industry doesn't suffer from this problem (as much) since there are real financial goals involved - they can't afford to pour a few million $ into a project and then can it because of a policy change.

Re:Again, they're on the right track

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, private mail came before USPS, just like Goddard came before NASA. But where would we be without the USPS (actually, the Department of the Post Office, back then)? It was the DPO designating official Postal Roads that got them paved. Lindy was an airmail pilot. Lucrative mail-handling contracts essentially created many railroads. Don't think that transportation would be where it is today in the US without government intervention.

Likewise, rocketry would be essentially nowhere without NASA and the Army. Don't forget that a lot of the incredible materials that these people are using to make "cheap" rockets were created under government contract.

aQazaQa

Re:would it kill you...

[slickwillie]

Would it kill you to spell-check first?

It's GRAMMAR.

Seriously!

[mrbarkeeper]

Check it out The Cheat: With this multi blaster rocket mari-- uhm, spaceship, we can retire TO THE MOOOOON!!

Last year called...

[Hobbex]

Did I just fall through a time-warp, or is something very wrong with this story?

Who, exactly is wondering what Burt Rutan is up to? I mean, I realize that not everybody cares about spaceflight, but I promise that anybody who knows who Burt Rutan IS could hardly have missed the 2010 recent news stories about what he is up to. I guess unless they are a slashdot editor...

Oh, but wait, there are pictures of his X-Prize entry. That is amazing!

Re:Last year called...

[RedWizzard]

Who, exactly is wondering what Burt Rutan is up to? I mean, I realize that not everybody cares about spaceflight, but I promise that anybody who knows who Burt Rutan IS could hardly have missed the 2010 recent news stories about what he is up to. I guess unless they are a slashdot editor...

What's worse is that the pictures are all just ripped off the Scaled Composites site's photo gallery. What is the point of this article exactly? Just to reward some guy for a bit of copyright infringement?

Re:Last year called...

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be new here. Welcome to slashdot. We don't give a crap about journalism, fact-checking, quality-control or anything else that that would require the so-called editors to lift a finger.

I wonder what they do all day.

Re:Last year called...

[Anonymous Coward]

What is the point of this article exactly? Just to reward some guy for a bit of copyright infringement?

More like punish him. Webservers don't grow on trees, though if they did slashdot's taken a hammer to that nut.

Instant Slashdotting Bait

[billstewart]

Is it possible to design better slashdotting bait than that? Even screenshots of a new Linux release or an MPEG of Natalie Portman making hot grits is unlikely to get hit much faster.

Re:Instant Slashdotting Bait

[Anonymous Coward]

Try taking another look. It seems slow to load, but then the images seem to display fine.

Re:Instant Slashdotting Bait

[kfg]

Is it possible to design better slashdotting bait than that?

An MPEG of Natalie Portman with hot grits down her pants installing Debian in SpaceShipOne in preperation for including it in the LEO beowulf cluster?

KFG

Re:Instant Slashdotting Bait

[fatmanone]

who's natalie portman?

Re:Instant Slashdotting Bait

[Anonymous Coward]

and what the hell are "hot grits"?

Re:Instant Slashdotting Bait

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 1: Steal RIAA's underpants
Step 2: Welcome our low-earth-orbiting, MPEG encoded, hot gritted, Debian installing overlords (of course, in Soviet Russia, they welcome you), all our base belong to them.
Step 3: Profit

Did I miss anything?

Problems with their server..

[Anonymous Coward]

After posting the article on slashdot, the server admin heard a loud bang. This was probably the network card buckling under the stress. After further investigation, large amounts of M&Ms were found in the servers drive bays.

cool info

[Nspace13]

wikipedia has a great entry on this.

Re:Servers dead already

[Moocowsia]

Woah, you actually got to see the pictures before the server went down?

There's Always....

[Bongo the Monkiii]

Google Images, I suppose.

May not be exactly what the submitter intended for us to see, but it's better than nothing, plus it helps collect lots of different images all in one neat, tidy place!

NASA

[Bob_Robertson]

I disagree with your premise entirely. NASA has been a disaster for space travel, ensuring that resources get plowed into the most inefficient, expensive, hide-bound techniques and designs. The only effort more backward is the Russian one, and at least the Russians stuck with one basic design and perfected it to the point where they have the highest lifting capacity in the world.

Getting into space might have taken longer without the whole NASA "before the end of this decade" mission statement, but once done it would have been profitable and economical. Instead, "we" wasted 43 years of time just to repeat Shepherds sub-orbital pud-knocker.

Seriously, dump NASA completely. Let the government buy commercial launch room for its spy satellites the same way they use FedEx because it works better than the USPS.

And FedEx works better for exactly the same reason that Rutan came back with everything except his fuel, a feat NASA has never accomplished!

Bob-

Re:NASA

[tehcyder]

I think you're probably right, I just wonder what it is that has stopped private enterprise doing this?

Are big corporations too risk averse nowadays?

Re:NASA

[Vellmont]

NASA has been a disaster for space travel


Yah, this is exactly what I think when there's 2 probes on Mars, one orbiting Saturn, and one to land on Titan in December. Who's been more successful in space than Nasa? No one.

I don't have any problems with private space launch, as long as it's well regulated. I do have a problem with badmouthing of Nasa. They've been enormously successfull on a comparitively small amount of money. Just for comparisons sake, how many billions of dollars did it take to create Windows 2000?

Re:NASA

[ultranova]

NASA has been a disaster for space travel

Yah, this is exactly what I think when there's 2 probes on Mars, one orbiting Saturn, and one to land on Titan in December. Who's been more successful in space than Nasa? No one.

After four decades of space travel, you can count the currently operative interplanetary spacecraft with one hand, and the number of manned interplanetary spacecraft with Captain Hook's lost hand. That is pretty pathetic, if you really think about it.

I don't have any problems with private space launch, as long as it's well regulated.

IMHO private space launch only needs one regulation: "Do it somewhere where the flaming wreckage won't fall on some bystanders head if something goes wrong". That is the only regulation that private space industry should be burdened with for now. The pull of gravity is hard enough to overcome; we don't need to add the weight of byrocracy to it. And anyone getting into a highly experimental spacecraft either knows that they're taking a risk, or is stupid beyond being able to operate said spacecraft.

If this was what you meant by "well regulated", then ignore this rant; otherwise please explain what regulations did you mean, and why are they neccessary ?

Re:NASA

[Bob_Robertson]

This is where not paying for government in the first place really shines. Without Big Mommy taking 50% of what you make, and 50% of what other people make by selling you stuff, and so on, without even mentioning the cost of complying with regulations with every step you take, what would you do with all that extra money?

Would you invest it in some crackpot rocketship? There are a whole bunch of people who would.

And yes, NASA has directly restricted the development of private space vehicles, by using tax money to undercut any possible competition. When they loosened their regulations just a little bit some few years ago, some crackpot rocket jockey proposed and built the "Pegasus" launch vehicle which puts small satellites into orbit at a tiny fraction of the cost NASA wanted to charge even with its massive taxpayer subsidy.

Why do you think only Big Corporations can build launch vehicles? Rutan isn't a big company. The Pegasus vehicle is exceptionally cheap to build, but requires a primary launch platform (F-15 style) that by law private people in the US may not own or operate. There's that regulatory burden again.

Bob-

Re:NASA

[Vellmont]

After four decades of space travel, you can count the currently operative interplanetary spacecraft with one hand, and the number of manned interplanetary spacecraft with Captain Hook's lost hand. That is pretty pathetic, if you really think about it.


Pathetic based on what? In what context are you judging space travel? Historically 40 years isn't a hell of a long time for a drastically new technology. Spacecraft aren't just a new form of a cart with different power sources (horse, steam engine, internal combustion engine, etc) it's an entirely different technology taking us into an entirely different and alien environment.


If this was what you meant by "well regulated", then ignore this rant; otherwise please explain what regulations did you mean, and why are they neccessary ?


There's a number of issues other than flaming death falling from the skies. Mostly they boil down to space junk, and pollution. Nasa put up Cassini with a radioactive power generator. All well and good, Nasa is pretty good about keeping that kind of thing safe. Private companies on the other hand are often willing to take far bigger risks where it only hurts the public. (e.g. Union Carbide in Bhopal India). Space junk could also be an even larger problem if anyone and everyone could put up a satelite, no questions asked.

proper terminology

[SuperBanana]

before the server crumbled.

Oh come on, you can do better than that.

How about: "before the server lost orbit, crashed and burned". Or, "before the server went down in flames faster than Mir Space Station".

Quick victory

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope that Rutan wins the X Prize quickly and convincingly. He's the only one (correct me if I'm wrong) who is doing test flights. I trust him to get people into space without killing anybody. The other teams; I'm not so sure.

Re:Quick victory

[Jennifer E. Elaan]

Armadillo is doing test flights. In fact, at the moment their vehicles aren't even designed for lifting people. They are, however, inventing a lot of new-ish and very cool technology.

As you'd expect given the nature of the guy running it, Armadillo has an impressive physics simulator designed to test their new designs before they are even built (and which is apparently pretty accurate). They also have made a cone-shaped rocket land straight down on its tail without large stabilizer fins. What they lack in financing or general rocketry, they certainly make up for in software.

Either way, it's pretty obvious that Scaled is going to win the X Prize. Their design is conventional and well-executed.

Not perfect, but something

[XMichael]

Archive.org has something from 2003, it's not the exactly link posted, but if your interested you can at least see there normal website.

Arhive.org Rokits.org

Complete CCTV

Re:Anybody putting up a mirror???

[HybridJeff]

I managed to get the first 17 or so pics. If anyone wants them go to http://random6.com/spaceshipone.

I wonder how long it'll get to kill my host :)

Desperately need the private sector

[DanielMarkham]

We desperately need the private sector, and things like the X-Prize.

Anyone read "The Innovator's Dilemma"? The premise of the book is that radical changes (what the author calls "disruptive technologies") can never be supported by organizations attuned to the old technologies.

Getting into space cheaply is going to require disruptive technology -- big paradigm changes. Just the nature of large organizations will keep NASA from being able to recognize or implement it. Just look at their current ideas for "X-Prize"-like contests -- they want to spread too little money over too many technologies. Who wants to compete to make the best astronaut glove? It just goes to show the agency is not capable of the radical changes we need for our space program.

Re:Desperately need the private sector

[Bob_Robertson]

I couldn't agree more. Now, if only I could get the moderators to stop modding my comment to the same effect above (#9608664) as a "Troll"...

NASA uses FedEx. The reason: FedEx is private and therefore more efficient than the USPS.

That's why The US Government would be better off purchasing private launch space just like everybody else.

There's no reason to think that half a dozen universities wouldn't get together and build deep space probes, either.

Bob-

Re:Desperately need the private sector

[ultranova]

Who wants to compete to make the best astronaut glove?

Numerous companies, if they can expect a money-making contract from it. Also any X-Prize competitor who wants to be able to control his craft if it should lose air pressure for some reason.

Having good spaceships is important, but having good spacesuits is just as important. Personally, I find the space activity suit to be the most interesting alternative.

X-Prize isn't won yet.

[Tatarize]

You need to make two flights within a given time period and a few other things. It'll be a little while before Spaceship One can win. So the others are scambling to win.

Spaceship One: First successful flight into outerspace by a commercial company.

This thing: Pictures.

Priceless!

[CygnusXII]

1. $50,000.00 for composite materials
2. $1,000,000.00 for Electronics
3. $1,000,000.00 + change for Engineering
Surviving SlashDot onslaught PRICELESS!!!

I agree.

[Anonymous Coward]

except for the shouting bits.
Let's try to be civilized shall we?

Bandwidth is fine

[germinatoras]

The photos download just fine once their "SlideShow" software finishes rendering the HTML page that has the pointer to it. I'd recommend skipping the slide show, and getting only the thumbnails - that way you can pick and choose what photos you're willing to wait 30-60 seconds for.

http://www.rokits.org/gallery/x-prize

Re:Bandwidth is fine

[Anonymous Coward]

Or just go straight to the Scaled Composites site, which is where the guy stole the photos from in the first place?

Mirror

[DDumitru]

Mirror

Mirror of images, all one one page. 39 images. 3.2 Megabytes total.

Re:Servers dead already

[nzkbuk]

The server still seems to be responding. Just give it a min or two. The slide show takes a bit to load then runs fine

Re:Anybody putting up a mirror???

[HybridJeff]

I grabbed the rest of them from someone elses mirror so they should all be up there now.

Re:Anybody putting up a mirror???

[The Real Nem]

Thanks for that. :)

Abusive negative moderation

[Bob_Robertson]

Might as well burn some karma and comment on the negative moderators. If you don't agree with someone, ignore them. Works much better in life as well.

Bob-

Dude

[kunudo]

I love his sideburns.

What I Want to See

[woosoki]

Is a footage that shows from the moment you are launched into the sky to the point you get into orbit, getting thru all the clouds and numerous *spheres, like the one in one of the intros in the recent episode of the Simpsons. Anyone to provide a vidcam?

NASA days of glory are gone for good?

[brunokummel]

Unfortunately i didnt watch the launch(so correct me if im wrong) but one thing that I quite dont undestand is how he has managed to reach the space with so little fuel in such a 'fragile' structure (considering that the pictures showed a shuttle that didnt have those ceramics plates for reentering the atmosphere).

Everytime NASA put the something in orbit, they burn that boatload of fuel, and this guy just got there in a what looks more like a giant Kite! And with what I believe being a much lower budget.

kinda justifies how NASA is loosing its prestige day after day with the american government and with public in general.

Re:NASA days of glory are gone for good?

[Anonymous Coward]

He didn't go to orbit. Not even close. He was about 15,000mph short of going to orbit.

What he did was hit an altitude of 100km, barely, and fell back.

Re:NASA days of glory are gone for good?

[nasor]

"Unfortunately i didnt watch the launch(so correct me if im wrong) but one thing that I quite dont undestand is how he has managed to reach the space with so little fuel in such a 'fragile' structure (considering that the pictures showed a shuttle that didnt have those ceramics plates for reentering the atmosphere).

Everytime NASA put the something in orbit, they burn that boatload of fuel, and this guy just got there in a what looks more like a giant Kite! And with what I believe being a much lower budget."

He didn't need heat shielding because he didn't achieve orbital velocity - which is around mach 25. Simply going into space and coming back doesn't create a problem with reentry.

You also have to keep in mind that impressive as space ship one is, it's a toy compared to an actual commercial launch vehicle. To get into low earth orbit you have to get up to about 300 miles altitude and attain a velocity of around mach 25, while Space Ship One only went up about 62.5 miles with a velocity of mach 3. Also, SSO doesn't carry any substantial payload; a commercial launch vehicle like the Delta 4 can launch 15 tons into orbit.

Re:NASA days of glory are gone for good?

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, a quick Google would answer your questions, but remember this is just a quick trip to the edge of space. Also, as you may know the launch was from another airplane, piggy-backed up to very high altitude. There is no speed pre-requisite to simply reach space. SpaceshipOne never passed Mach 2. It is a sub-orbital spacecraft, not an orbital one. I suggest this link --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne for basic info.

Re:NASA days of glory are gone for good?

[Nick Driver]

Simply going into space and coming back doesn't create a problem with reentry.

More accurately said: It doesn't create as big of a problem with reentry :-)
The ride down is still fraught with much potential peril and opportunity for stuff to go wrong..

Re:NASA days of glory are gone for good?

[at_kernel_99]

You also have to keep in mind that impressive as space ship one is, it's a toy compared to an actual commercial launch vehicle.

You call it a toy, I call it a prototype. Burt, et al will unveil an orbit-ready design within two years.

No Good Pilot

[Maxwell'sSilverLART]

...would dare take off without his trusty West Bend timer! (Picture at http://sd-mirror.dumitru.com/scaled/sso042a.sized. jpg)

West Bend timers...IN SPACE!

(Yes, I know that's actually White Knight's cockpit. Smile and nod.)

Re:No Good Pilot

[bradtes]

No good pilot would dare take off without his trusty West Bend timer!

It seems your flight school uses the little beast. Strange, no?

Re:No Good Pilot

[Maxwell'sSilverLART]

Strange, no?

Well, no, not really; no good pilot would do without...

Hey! That wasn't nice!

Spaceflight video, with floating M&Ms!

[FleaPlus]

As many of you know, the pilot of SpaceShipOne released a bunch of M&M's near the top of his historic spaceflight. Scaled just recently released video of the launch, which includes chase plane and in-cockpit views. The floating M&M's are near the end. It's incredibly cool to watch -- one of the M&M's flies right by the camera! This video doesn't have sound, as I believe the "full" version is licensed for an upcoming Discovery Channel special.

I wonder if Mars, Inc. is going to try to license that video for a commercial.

Re:Spaceflight video, with floating M&Ms!

[Goldenhawk]

Really cool video.

What's downright scary is two things.

One, no military pilot in his right mind would deliberately FOD the cockpit - release Foreign Object Debris - even as small as an M&M - it's a surefire way to cause problems later. You'd be amazed at how little it takes to induce seriously Bad problems in an airplane cockpit. Even chocolate. Even three or four flights later, when that ONE M&M you didn't find post-flight just happens to melt or stick in an unfortunate spot.

Two, watch the silhouette of the vehicle carefully during the external footage of the thrust phase. Boy, the thing is rocking back and forth badly. Serious controllability problems. Yeah, I know, we already heard all about that - but this video drives home just how nasty it was. I can distinctly see four roll oscillations greater than 90 degrees in just about five seconds. Ouch. Any pilot in a military jet would be reaching for the ejection handle right then. Interesting they didn't include the over-the-shoulder footage for THAT.

Oh, and IAAAE (I AM an aerospace engineer) and DO happen to have experience working with both military pilots and jets.

Re:Spaceflight video, with floating M&Ms!

[Anonymous Coward]

no military pilot in his right mind would deliberately FOD the cockpit - release Foreign Object Debris - even as small as an M&M - it's a surefire way to cause problems later.

This pilot's solution to that problem was to blast the M&Ms out the hatch into the vacuum of space. Later, during reentry, an inanimate carbon rod saves the day.

idiots!

[CanadaDave]

Linking to a gallery slideshow is about the stupidest thing you can do.

how embarrassing

[Stephen Samuel]

One silly side comment, and I get moded -1 troll.
(sigh)...

Thenks for the mirror, anyways.

Re:how embarrassing

[tehcyder]

That would have been the feeblest attempt at a troll I've ever seen on here, if it had been your intention.

While I didn't exactly split my sides in uncontrollable laughter, it was at least a change from the 427 "ha, bet their server's a pile of molten plastic now" posts.

Pictures and video at scaled.com itself

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps these are something new.... but there is a good set of pictures, and a video, at Rutan's/Scaled Composites web site scaled.com

nm?

[Biogenesis]

They've done a horribly annoying job of mixing feet and km in this image but why have they used nm? Like did the flight reach 100km high, travel 53nm in space then come down again?

Did they screw up there or am I deeply confused about some weird measurement scanle than just happens to look like nanometers but like, isnt?

Re:nm?

[Anonymous Coward]

nautical miles...

Re:nm?

[tenco]

Did they screw up there or am I deeply confused about some weird measurement scanle than just happens to look like nanometers but like, isnt?

s/nanometers/nautical miles/

Re:nm?

[ColaMan]

nm as in nautical miles... probably.

Now That...

[Papatoast]

Is a Wind Farm!!!!

Yellow

[droleary]

Is it just me or does this picture make it look like, with a new paint job, they've got a smiley face just waiting to happen? Somewhat related, how long before these things get commercial sponsors and start looking like race cars?

Re:Yellow

[Anonymous Coward]

It's just you. I don't see it at all. ;-)

Now... On the other hand the Microsoft logo ....

other pics

[jayrtfm]

here are some other gallerys:
http://spaceshipone.airshowjournal.com/ 2004/
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/0062 93.html

Time Flies :-)

[Nick Driver]

Well my little Piper Cherokee won't hardly go any higher than about 14K' MSL, but I have no West Bend timer on board. I use a little digital stopwatch that came free with a bottle of Listerine to time my turns! Also have on board the original 35+ year old wind-up aircraft clock (Swiss-made Wakman, works perfect too), a battery-powered digital clock, the digital stopwatch function built into a Terra TriNav display, and trusty wristwatch. Oops, almost forgot my cellphone has a clock/stopwatch too.

I guess you could say that whenever I take off, that 'Time Flies' :-) har har har!!!!

SpaceShipOne comic

[Snaggy]

Well, if you folks refuse to link it, I'm just gonna have to! :-)

XTease model rocket, SpaceShipOne!

Gorgeous job Nitrozac, imho. :-)

Mod Parent Up!

[egg_green]

In this case, nm stands for Nautical Miles, not Nanometers

hehehe

[cRueLio]

remember the psychologists that said fancy cars are a represantation of a male's penis? well, maybe this fancy spaceship is a representation of Rutan's...

What do they use for instrumentation?

[EnglishTim]

This is an interesting picture.

I wonder what information he has displayed on that control panel, and what computer system they have displaying it? I mean, is there a specialist Aeronautics Display OS out there or does it run on QNX or RTLinux?

M&M's in space.

[torpor]

Yeah, I too was wondering about that FOD issue ... wouldn't it suck if they have to take the cockpit apart looking for M&M's before they can re-launch again. I don't understand why he felt he could do that, actually ... maybe the cockpit on SS1 is pretty sparse?

Re:M&M's in space.

[Garridan]

A big red button, and a joystick! What else could you possibly need?

Cost-cutting where it counts

[macraig]

Did anyone else notice the minimalist chairs and table and the vending machines in the first photo? Nope, no cushy chairs or catered meals for these guys... they're focused on the Prize.

Hisitory Online

[Bob_Robertson]

Murry Rothbard's "Conceived in Liberty" (Vols. 1-4, New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1973-1979), would make a great start, but unfortunately only a couple of chapters are online. Try the library, since it's $100 they may be the only place that has it.

For material online, I can whole heartedly suggest The Ludwig von Mises Institute online library which has numerous different authors and titles which concern the efficiencies of competitive market forces while documenting the absurd inefficiencies and distortions of forced regulation and command economies.

The daily articles are one of the things I start my day with, along with Dilbert and UserFriendly.

I do appreciate your comment of "don't just correct, educate", but I can only point you in the direction. One way to know that private mail came first is to recall that Benjamin Franklin was appointed as the first Postmaster General. Ok, so what existed before that? Private mail.

Bob-

Re:Hisitory Online

[at_kernel_99]

Or maybe before Ben, mail was delivered by whatever the USPS is called in the UK.

Gemini 3

[Fenris Ulf]

One, no military pilot in his right mind would deliberately FOD the cockpit

You're right, I can't imagine this ever happening on a NASA flight either.

Re:Gemini 3

[MemoryAid]

It's always difficult to judge historic events by today's standards. Something like the Gemini flight helped shape the current view of fod in the cockpit.

public service for the clueless

[real_smiff]

ah funny thread.
just in case anyone's not clear, wikipedia is your friend:

Hot Grits

and Natalie Portman

Now how they ever got combined.. you'll have to ask slashdot for that.