OT - SpaceShipOne flight on June 21

I'm close , but after hearing that it won't orbit I lost interest. Now orbit 3/4 or more and land in the same place would be worth seeing. Space flight to me should be that it will stay up there at least close to all the way around the world. Or better yet stay up for days without braking to reenter. Worth keeping tract of the news though. Thanks for the link.

Thanks for the info. When I get back into the software engineering workforce I want to work at a company like this. I'm tired of sitting in a cube and doing meaningless work These folks may get rich if this all works out, and they deserve it. I would love to be on the team.

Al

I hear you, but - baby steps, man, baby steps.

In case anyone hadn't heard, the mission was succesful.

I think the whole project is just too cool for words. I couldn't have accomplished something like that in a million years.

R, Tom Q. Remove bogusinfo to reply.

Well, after a fashion. They did reach their target altitude, but there were serious problems, and they won't be flying again until they figure out what went wrong.

They had problems with the engine (some sort of explosion during boost), and they suffered an uncontrolled yaw during boost phase too, which left them 20 miles off their flight profile.

Gary

When was it done the first time? One of the first things after baking in the sun was to watch for it on the news. When are they going to change the Sports section into the Science section?

I still get into the why? Must be that get around the world quick for a sale... I keep thinking payload and what to do with it , civilian backed moon trip? A geo. syn. sat. on the cheap? Wonder how much crap you have to go through to place something in space little alone that flight. Anyhow, it was impressive.

No downward pictures , probably skipped the camera weight.

The daVinci Project is planning to launch this summer from close to

Saskatoon (Kindersley, less than an hour away). I saw a brief presentation

these folks did at a recent City Council meeting, sounds interesting.

Hopefully we'll be able to get out to see the launch.

Dave

I'm not sure what you mean - this was the first private, manned space flight, AFAIK.

I'm not exactly sure why, either, but I hope it turns out to be profitable for them and others like them.

Agreed.

Don't know.

R, Tom Q. Remove bogusinfo to reply.

The first time man had been that high , what was it , 62 miles. Late 50's ? Just curious , maybe its in the site. Sure wasn't in my paper. I would think that would be an important point.

Look up the history of the X-15. That's where you'll find it.

Ed Huntress

The X-15 flew to an altitude of 67 miles in August, 1963:

That was the first example of *flying* into space, by today's definition. But Yuri Gagarin took a *ballistic* trip into space, in a rocket-launched capsule, in April of 1961. Freedom 7, another ballistic tin can, took Alan Shepard to an altitude of 116.5 miles in May of 1961.

The X-15 flew to an altitude of 59.61 miles in July 1962. That was when the definition of space was 50 miles up. The later, 100 kilometer definition was exceeded in the 67-mile-high flight I mentioned above, which stands as the record for *flight*.

Ed Huntress

X-1A wasn't it ?

Martin

No, that was just breaking the sound barrier. I don't remember what altitude it reached though.

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Thanks Ed. I forgot about that *plane* and wouldn't have been able to find the info. To me that should be pointed out to put it in context.

EEE, 20,000 lbs. of fuel.

Got out of trouble with the principal in 7th grade cause I knew that it was P-47 Thunder bolts all over his walls.

Opened the eyes of a 70+ yr. old customer when he mentioned 104's and I said "Oh, Thunder Thuds." I knew that from my dad's stories of flying before and after them in a 101R.

No, the Bell X1 (there is no 'A' variant, it is one of a kind) broke the sound barrier (in level flight) on October 14, 1947 with Chuck Yaeger at the controls. Max speed for the flight was 700 MPH (Mach 1.06), at a max altitude of 43,000 feet. It was the first aircraft able to exceed the speed of sound in level flight (other planes had done it before in dives, often with disasterous results).

The X1 flew a total of 78 times (a B29 served as its carrier aircraft). The fastest and highest flight occurred on March 26, 1948 when Yaeger pushed it to 957 MPH and a height of 71,900 feet (13.62 miles). It currently resides in the Smithsonian.

The North American X15 started flying in 1959. Three X15 vehicles were built, making a total of 199 flights over the life of the $400 million decade long program.

A B52 served as the carrier aircraft. More recently, that same B52 was also the carrier aircraft for the first Orbital Sciences Pegasus unmanned orbital rocket launches (they now use their own modified L1011 as the carrier aircraft).

X15 #1 reached an altitude of 67 miles (354,200 feet) in 1961. That made it the first manned aircraft to reach space. (Note that Gargarin, Titov, Shepard, and Grissom also reached space in

1961, but they were riding capsules, spam in a can, rather than flying a winged aircraft to space.) X15 #1 is currently on display at the Smithsonian.

X15 #2, which sported a more advanced thermal protection system, set a level flight speed record of 4,534 MPH (Mach 6.2) in 1967. There was a proposal to fit it with a more powerful rocket motor for hypersonic research, but the funding dried up before that could be done. Current location of X15 #2 unknown.

X15 #3 featured an advanced cockpit with an adaptive control system. After several successful flights, it crashed, killing its pilot Michael Adams when he became disoriented in flight. (You may have seen the crash footage in an episode of the orignal Twilight Zone SiFI TV series about breaking the "time" barrier.)

Both the X1 and the X15 were government funded projects. What sets Spaceship One apart from them is that it is totally privately financed, and not built to a government contract requirement.

Gary

You sure about that? NASA says that flight was on August 22, 1963:

Yeah, I got that mixed up. The X15 reached "space", then defined in the US as 200,000 feet, in 1961. But the FAI definition is 100 km, and that wasn't reached until 1963.

I also found out what happened to X15 #2. It is at the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB.

Gary

Thanks for the reference. I hope you get to see the launch.

I haven't had a chance to explore the site, but here's the link:

Here's a link to the X Prize site: R, Tom Q.

Remove bogusinfo to reply.

Well, shut my mouth, I didn't know there was more than one plane in the X1 program. Still, it was the X1 (no A) that Yaeger flew to break the sound barrier.

Gary