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SpaceShipOne Captures the X Prize
I got to Mojave yesterday evening (it's a long way from El Paso), slept in my car, and got to the airfield itself just before 4 a.m. Traffic on state highway 58 was brisk already, though not clogged (which it later became), and nearly every car was turning onto the two-lane entrance heading for acres of packed-dirt parking spaces near the runway from which SpaceShipOne would take off.
The crowd which built up in the following hours was surprisingly quiet on takeoff, which happened right at 7:45 local time. Not exactly hushed -- perhaps "hesitant" is a better word, or maybe just waking up. Only scattered clapping (guilty!) as the White Knight / SpaceShipOne piggyback duo lifted off, followed shortly by two chase planes, an AlphaJet and a Beechcraft Starship. The enthusiasm grew, though, as the flight progressed; a P.A. system kept the spectators informed of the trip's progress.
When SpaceShipOne finally separated and fired upward ("Good release, good release!" over the P.A, followed by enthusiastic cheering), it was after three separate two-minute warnings, then for one-minute and 30-second intervals. After an 84-second burn followed by a clean shutdown, SpaceShipOne coasted to its final altitude. At 90 seconds into the flight, the ship was well past 100,000 feet, and out of sight to the unaided eye. At 7:51, an altitude of 328,000 feet was reported, but the ship was still climbing for the next 40,000 feet under its own momentum. The reported peak altitude is enough to top the previous record, set by an X-15 at 354,200 ft. in 1963.
The descent was happily uneventful. At 60,000 feet, Binnie experienced "slight oscillations" -- consistent with previous flights, according to the announcer, who continued to count down the altitude. At approximately 45,000 feet, the conditions are right for contrails, and more cheering erupted when those popped into view. The crowd perked up and cheered even more with the first of two sonic booms audible on the ground (the booms that occur during ascent aren't), pointing and shading their eyes from the sun, following the ship as it traveled in wide arcs to bleed off the energy of the ascent, followed by a smooth 3-point landing.
(Special thanks to the members of the Foothill High School band who traveled the three hours from Orange County to watch the flight and play both before and after the flight. The launch itself was surprisingly low on ceremony, and their playing provided a bit of well-deserved pomp.)
According to the rules...so anyone from the da Vinci team...you know how to win!
I was wondering when this news would be making it to slashdot. It's been nearly 15 minutes since I first read about it.
The rules say the pilot must land in good health. Good health means surviving 24 hrs after the landing.
Even as we speak Spaceship ones competitors are arranging a hit......
just hope they don't lose your luggage.
"I'm sorry sir, your bags went to Uranus."
"D'Oh!"
It's only a model.
I'm wondering what took up the extra mass to account for a 3 person flight. Did they have to take up extra stuff or did the weight of the pilot's 200 pound testicles suffice?
Blaze a trail to the New World
Shared by Sputnik and SpaceShipOne.
Soviet Russia and Capitalist America, forever entwined by space history.
Sounds great, if you want your summer vacation to last about 75 seconds.
Oh, and cost US$200,000
And have a non-trivial chance of killing you
Other than that, I'm totally there dude!
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Free gmail invites
Step 3: Spend less tha ten million dollars.
Oh, and cost US$200,000
And have a non-trivial chance of killing you
Other than that, I'm totally there dude!
It's space exploration... to the max!!!!1!!!
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"I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing and it was everything that I thought it could be."
There's actually going to be a company called "Virgin Galactic" in my lifetime.
And if you don't find them, my foot is going to Uranus!
doh.
Microsoft is finally associated with something that DOESN'T crash!
In a rare break of Microsoft solidarity, Steve Ballmer says most people flying to space are stowaways and Microsoft will lead the way to space. "There is no way you can get there with NASA. The critical mass has to come from the PC, or a next generation lift-off device."
I'd say that the chance of dying is more than trivial, we all know about Microsoft products crashing at launch.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
Step 3: put line breaks in your comment.
When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks.
-Fight Club
They should know that 400 pounds is not sufficient to represent the average Star Trek Fan.
Much less two of them.
How long before someone straps a board to their feet and hops out capturing the X-treme X-Prize?
When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
Do you jump in your car and innovate home?
If I built the car from parts I mostly designed myself, then yeah, I innovate to work and back.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
That's what I call REAL ULTIMATE POWER!!!!
This post is about SpaceShipOne, REAL SpaceShipOne. This post is awesome. My name is James and I can't stop thinking about SpaceShipOne. This ship is cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.
Facts:
1. SpaceShipOne is a spaceship
2. SpaceShipOne flies into space ALL the time.
3. The purpose of SpaceShipOne is to flip out and do barrel rolls
Weapons and gear:
Rubber powered rocket
White Knight mothership
Floating M&Ms
Testimonial:
SpaceShipOne can fly anywhere it wants! SpaceShipOne sonic booms ALL the time and doesn't even think twice about it. This ship is so crazy and awesome that it barrel rolls ALL the time. I heard that this guy was flying SpaceShipOne. And when some dude launched the rocket the SpaceShipOne started oscillating like crazy. My friend Chico said he saw M&Ms totally float inside SpaceShipOne just because it was in a parabolic arc.
And that's what I call REAL ULTIMATE POWER!!!!!!!
If you don't believe that SpaceShipOne has REAL ULTIMATE POWER you better get a life right now or they will win the x-prize. It's an easy choice, if you ask me.
SpaceShipOne is sooooooooooo sweet that I want to crap my pants. I can't belive it sometimes, but I feel it inside my heart. SpaceShipOne is totally awesome and that's a fact. SpaceShipOne is fast, cool, strong, powerful, sexy, and 31337. I can't wait to start watching my Star Wars DVD next month. I love SpaceShipOne with all of my body (including my pee pee).
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
It *IS NOT* a ninja... It doesn't even look like a ninja. Don't make me flip out and start cutting off heads.
And following that, we must have the Futurama quote:
Professor: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Professor: Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you.
My roommate's lesbian girlfriend wants to clean our house.
:D
That should be awesome!
Especially since the lesbian friend's girlfriend is bi- and wants me. yay!
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/