SpaceShipOne launch June 21! Private Manned Space Flight!

[Sonikku]

If all goes well, SpaceShipOne, at 6:30AM, will become the first private manned space flight. It will take place in the Mojave desert at 6:30AM PDT and SpaceShipOne (designed, built, and paid for by Scaled Composites) will be piloted by Mike Melvill, a test pilot with 19 years experience and (hopefully) soon to be astronaut. CNN will carry live coverage of the historic flight. Lets wish them good luck!!

More info here:

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/index.htm

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/images/13p_boost_alpha-200.jpg

:smt033 :smt040 :smt023 :prayer: :smt119 :smt118

[AntiPasta]

Cool, I saw this on the news but supposedly he made it up to 100km which is just barely considered space... but let's hope some more comes of this now government-funded space programmes are not what they used to be.

[Evangelion-01]

whoa , i saw this like 4 days ago, this is the "something" prize right? the guys that first do it get like 10 millions. is space like 150km? :smt017

[Sonikku]

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/photos/images/video/13p_feather_tail.jpg

Looks like space to me! :D

I don't know about dictionary definition, but they actually have zero g for about 3 minutes and have to go through reentry, so good enough for me :smt023

[Yakumo]

I saw this on the news today. There was a British guy aiming for the same goal but it now looks like he'll have to settle with second place.

Yakumo

[SilverBolt]

Thay made it into "space" barely at 100 km which is just out of the earths atmosphere.
Not bad for a non-goverment spaceflight, i hope we see more of these guys in the future :smt023

[Tachikoma]

<government conspiracy mode>

Whats the bet it all of a sudden blows up, or fails, with lots of coverage by NASA saying how such a project "is futile/dangerous"

</government conspiracy mode>

I do hope of course that doesnt happen for obvious reasons.

[LeGIt]

heck if the government has given up on regular space missions someone else sure as hell may aswell continue the legacy :smt023

[madhatter256]

They might make it. If they do then cheap space travel will be possible. Hello Mars :smt033 I'm coming for ya. Good luck to them :smt023

[SilverBolt]

first thing that springs to mind is long distance travels, using such a ship to fly just beond the atmosphere would make it possible to fly to the other side in a matter of a few hours.

/me imagines going for a shopping spree in tokio every weekend :P

[LeGIt]

infact that would cut aircraft emissions significantly as they would be polluting outside of our atmosphere for the majority of the time not within it :smt033