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SpaceShipOne to Join Smithsonian Collection
iamlucky13 writes "After having inspired space enthusiasts around the world and possibly setting the stage for space tourism by winning the X-Prize a year ago, SpaceShipOne is on it's way to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. There it will join other historic craft such as Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and Yeager's Glamorous Glennis. The exhibit will be unveiled on October 5th at a ceremony with Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, the company that built SpaceShipOne, and Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder who funded the project."
On the contrary, I think that this will only fuel innovation even more. Having this amazing space ship available for viewing in public will help people to believe in space travel, also from a private, consumer perspective. Take an example, a young engineer student, studies its aerodynamic properties at the museum, and can then create new ideas and spur the development himself. I also take this as a sign that the Scaled Composites team has even more and better ships in their space fleet.
How does this affect the star trek timeline? I just don't get it??
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Wouldn't Oct 4th be a more appropriate day, being the anniversary of the first man made object (sputnik) in space.
Sputnik was not the first man-made object in space. If the boundary between the atmosphere and space is defined as 100 km altitude, then the V-2 beat Sputnik there.
Sputnik's real claim to fame is that it was Earth's first artificial satellite.
Well, that, and also the fact that at it gave red-blooded Americans the heebie-jeebies to have a sinister Soviet satellite beaming out Communist radio signals while whizzing over your head fifteen times a day.