Slashdot Mirror
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."
And, considering my birthday is October 5, 1969, the addition to the Smithsonian is doubly appreciated.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
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??
Blog from where blogging counts
The X-Prize was designed to spur invention and get people looking at private spaceflight and funding deals. SS1 is way too small to be commercially viable. It did it's job, and is now obsolete. Life is short when you're a prototype in an evolving industry.
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
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.
It's not like they've thrown away the blueprints and with all the extra money from Virgin their going to be able to quickly fabricate many more with all the kinks from SpaceShipOne worked out, after all it is a prototype albeit a very good one. I can't wait to see the new version they make that comes with cup holders and leather trim interior.
Besides they probably felt they had a good chunk of flight data to analyze and could further refine the engine on the ground, traded against the risk of pushing it further to the limits and losing the ship and possibly pilot, at which point everyone would berate them for destroying a piece of history. Nope sounds like they made the right call to me.
To the people asking about the reusability of a craft that's being put on display...
SpaceShip One was the testing prototype. The production models are already being built, for Virgin Galactic.
Yeah, that's right. A real company, run by someone who owns a real world-wide airline, will be using these babies for (near-) space tourism.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
Sounds like a great idea. I can see myself flying to work one day in one of these babies. I can also see myself getting arrested when I land for violating airspace.
This is actually an old story. It had been reported earlier in the year that this was going to occur.
The SS1 Prototype has actually been at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Annex (Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum (UHASM)) in Dulles, VA since late July / early August awaiting transfer to the downtown Washington, DC center.
For those who would have wanted to see it there, while it was not on active display, it was there at the west end of the building under a great big blue tarp. They had it under the tarp because the director of the UHASM did not want to allow it on display because he "did not want to upstage the downtown facility's unveiling". For what it's worth, since it was there (and its not hard to recognize it under the tarp), I thought that it would not have hurt to have been not on active display but out from under the tarp and just have a temporary placard stating "Awaiting transfer to downtown facility for official showing".
Link to Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Homepage:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/
Link to Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/
I took my 4.5 year-olds on their first visit to Air & Space when we happened to be
near Washington last weekend. SpaceShipOne was hanging in the main entrance hall,
but it was under wraps. The shape is distinctive, but I was disappointed that we
couldn't actually see it.
So they paid $30 million to win a $10 million prize? They donated it to inspire others. They're currently working on SpaceShipTwo.
Make your computer faster: rm -rf
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.
I am planning a group trip to the Smithsonian to visit this incredibly innovative machine of the 21st century. As I'm sure you know, the noble genius of Burt Rutan has once again improved the American way of life by developing this impressive ship. Soon we will all be traveling to space, and we'll remember Rutan as the leader that made it happen.
The craft was honorably donated to the Smithsonian by the Scaled Composites shareholders so that all Americans can bask in their stunning glory. They are the true American Heroes, easily meeting and sometimes exceeding the accomplishments of Lindbergh, Yeager, Glenn, and Armstrong. SpaceShipOne should be your first and last stop when visiting the Smithsonian.
A bill in Congress is now focusing on how to best teach space science to our country's children. A key part of this bill is that schools will be required to honor the investors of SpaceShipOne, and give those investors equal time with the government-funded NASA. All chilrdren should be made aware that SpaceShipOne supports the American way of life in terms of Freedom and excellence. Unlike NASA, which is a dismal failure of big government policies funded by a Kennedy that sends single-use rockets to Mars. Dumb.
The SpaceShipOne exhibit is co-sponsored by Kraft Macaroni & Cheese: another American Hero loved by all kids. When you think of SpaceShipOne, think of the heros of Rutan and Allen, and think of the delicious wholesome goodness of Kraft.
lol how the fuck was that a Troll...stupid mods...anyways, at least I laughed...
The sentence "SpaceShipOne is on it's way to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC." seems a bit inaccurate. A friend of mine who was there a week or so ago said that SpaceShipOne is already there, albeit under a tarp. Doent's seem like there is much traveling left for her to do. Naturally, a throng of people (including my friend) were there looking at the tarp, and probably taking pictures too to show to their kiddies/grandkiddies.
Perhaps its historical value as the first private-sector product to cross the threshold qualifies it for museum display. If it blew up on another flight(accidents happen) they couldn't very well give it to the Smithsonian.
Speaking of fuel... It's pretty interesting how spaceship one was fueled. It's basically a mix of kerosene and chopped up old tires, but it does the job, and pretty darn well. Another ingenious thing about SS1 is the reentry mechanism. Rather than weighting the craft down with thousands of custom made thermal tiles (like NASA does), it instead raises its wings vertical, which gives a lot of drag on reentry. Essentially, this slows the craft down so quickly that you don't have to worry about it overheating. I bet the guys at NASA are slapping themselves across the face on that one...
The only way to tell the difference between a hamster and a gerbil is that the hamster has more white meat.
Umm, if he did say something like that, he obviously meant the total number of passengers to fly over the twelve year period, not all at the same time in the same ship. SS2 is a suborbital plane, so any given flight will just last a few minutes/hours.
If they have 10 SS2s, flying one flight per day with 12 passengers over 12 years that would be more than half a million passengers. If Rutan said one million (the parent and grandparent might both be trolls), then he must have been thinking in terms of a bigger fleet.
whilst what rutan achived is commendable calling it spaceflight is a bit of a stretch. Its a bit like comparing an object thrown in the air with an aircraft.
The only feasible way to stay out of the earths atnosphere is to go into orbit but orbit is far far harder to achive than the little stunts runtan has been doing.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
I want to say thank you to Paul Allen for the funding first.
h tml
I want to say thank you again for donating the ship to the Smithsonian. For those who don't know, Paul Allen has his own recently-opened Sci-Fi museum in Seattle. It would be very tempting to not give SSOne to the Smithsonian, instead to give it to his museum and loan it to the Smithsonian (so it would mention his museum on the plaque and he could bring it back from time to time) or to exhibit it at his own museum for a while to generate traffic/money.
Paul Allen didn't do these things.
Thank you very much Paul.
It's be great to see this exhibit/web page updated soon:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/gal100.
I've actually seen SSOne, I was there at its first flight into space. But I'd really like to see it next to the X-15 (which the Smithsonian also has) so I can see how much things have changed (and what hasn't) over almost 50 years.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
I was there last weekend, and it was already hanging up in the lobby, but still covered in the blue sheet.
I took a few pics of it: Smithsonian pictures
Its not on its way, its been there for three weeks already. Its sitting under a blue tarp near the Navy exhibit at the far end of the museum. They got pretty torqued when I lifted the tarp up and checked it out....
Note, SS1 didn't reach orbital speeds (17,500 mph) and thus didn't undergo the tempratures due to reentry that Shuttle and other orbital reentry vehicles go through.
It's not that they out smarted NASA, they aren't doing near as much as Shuttle does in terms of speed and reentry.
When they go to an orbital vehicle then they'll have to deal with that level of speed and temp.
It is the first private plane/spacecraft in human history to reach space. Once space travel becomes commonplace this vehicle will be as prized as the first Wright Flyer.
I was slightly suprised when they reused it to try to take the X-Prize. What if they had crashed it?
I definitely belongs in a museum, and now.
The way composites work, it wouldn't be all that expensive to make another shell on the same plans. They could take all the parts ouf of SSOne and put them in that shell and fly it at a very low cost.
So don't fret, it's there because it's more valuable as a museum piece than as an airplane now. That won't be the case with the 2nd one built I don't think. Although the 2nd may very well be the first private vehicle to actually carry a paying passenger to space.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
... about being a college stuuuuuuudent innnnnn DEEECEEEE... with no classessssss on Wednnnesssssday. I am SO there. Hell, I'd go just to see Paul Allen and to get out of the dorm.
AU '09
And now, for a sig that's a complete copout.
I know Voyager is already there, and now SS1. Are any more of his planes at the Smithsonian? GlobalFlyer?
Well, it is certainly capable of being reused. It's just that nobody actually has a use for a thee man suborbital spaceplane. There was never any question about whether of not it was built for the X-Prize. It was. No sane person ever said otherwise. Now, they are starting to build other space ships for the Virgin Galactic partnership.
So why are you being so sarcastic? Did Rutan steal your girlfriend or something?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
The 10 million is just icing on the cake. Being known as the winners of the X-Prize is sure to be worth a lot more than the prize or even the money they invested themselves.
Psst. The Smithsonian has an Enterprise model (from TOS) on display too.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
I was in D.C. two weeks ago and took pictures of myself and my wife next to it. It's in the aviation wing of Air & Space, at the end, covered with a not-so-opaque blue tarp.
So why are you being so sarcastic? Did Rutan steal your girlfriend or something?
Ah yes, in fact he did steal my girlfriend, and that leads directly to sarcasm. As you too have obviously experienced.
Honestly, I'm damn tired of hearing about Rutan on Good Morning America and all the other faux news shows. He is a commendable engineer, but the marketing aspect of this particular achievement is very much over the top. There are plenty of engineers and scientists that have accomplished amazing things, but they go very much unpraised.
Scaled Composites simply won't let this one fall out of the news. If they keep their focus on the engineering accomplishments, they wouldn't need such a full-press marketing push.
Don't get me wrong - it isn't Rutan himself; it's the investors* trying to capitalize on their investment in attempts to augment their engineering accomplishment. They're using Rutan as a tool and a personality to further their own agenda. Show Rutan with some failures - all engineering is full of "lessons learned". Show us that he's a smart guy who takes good risks that don't always work out right.
Show me reality: I don't want a sugar-coated made-for-TV mini series that's merely based on reality. Rutan has some great accomplishments, but please don't compare the SSO success with Yeager and Limburgh.
* yes, I know Rutan is an investor too
Ok, I think I see where you're coming from. You really should see a shrink about your jealously issues.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
WHOOOOSH!!!
What was that? Something just passed right over my head.
What is it about some folks here? It's like their humor knob is set to 0.
SS1 isn't the Shuttle. It's Mercury.
The important thing is that it's a Mercury program that will be able to survive on profits from the free market, not subject to the whims of some political hacks. This is sustainable, and will continue and be built upon no matter what fools take control of NASA's purse strings.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny