The New Space Age Arriving June 21st, 2004

[Mr. Anderson]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/06/02/private.space/index.html

wow, and they broke their veil of secrecy and announced the launch! I hope it all goes well....

D

[wdlove]

This is awesome Mr. Anderson. Very happy that it's an American enterprise. Wow a sub orbital flight just like Alan Shepherd. I was privileged to see that live on TV. Wonder if any of the networks will cover the liftoff. :)

[Mr. Anderson]

This is awesome Mr. Anderson. Very happy that it's an American enterprise. Wow a sub orbital flight just like Alan Shepherd. I was privileged to see that live on TV. Wonder if any of the networks will cover the liftoff. :)

Well, its sub orbital, but not quite like Alan Shepherd - his rocketship soared to 115 miles, reached a speed of 5,100 miles an hour and landed 302 miles out in the Atlantic.

Scaled Composites will only be going 60+ miles high (a little over half the altitude) and landing right back where they started :D

Not sure the top speed they'll reach, but its not going to be 5,100 mph either - probably around 3000 or less.

D

[Dont Hurt Me]

This is really cool, Mr Anderson you beat me to posting this. I noticed on the last flight there seemed to be a lot of vibration where the nozzle is attached to the spaceship. i hope that what i saw was within specs and normal operation. this just goes to show what private enterprise can do. Nasa could learn a thing or two from these guys. The concept is very solid and white night/spaceship one is the most beautiful things flying i have seen in years. lets hope for a smooth flight. they have done a terrific job.

[KingSleaze]

This is awesome Mr. Anderson. Very happy that it's an American enterprise. Wow a sub orbital flight just like Alan Shepherd. I was privileged to see that live on TV. Wonder if any of the networks will cover the liftoff. :)

Not even going to be a "liftoff", more like a "takeoff" at the airport. ;)

[wdlove]

Private Space Travel? Dreamers Hope a Catalyst Will Rise From the Mojave Desert.

One week from today, from a runway in a barren reach of the Mojave Desert 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Burt Rutan will try sending a pilot higher than anyone has ever flown in a private plane.

A longtime designer of innovative aircraft, he plans to shoot his creation, a rocket called SpaceShipOne, 62 miles above the earth. If the flight is successful, Mr. Rutan and his sponsor, Paul G. Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, say it will usher in an age of privately financed space travel and even spacefaring laboratories and manufacturing plants, at down-to-earth prices.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/14/science/14plane.html

[obeygiant]

first the space plane

then this.
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm

[Chip NoVaMac]

Maybe Bush (not being political here) has the right idea with his non-manned launch announcement today. Though I do have a an issue with profit being tied to satellites that we need, to be launched by the highest bidder...

All in all i hope they can meet the goals for the final prize.

[Powerbook G5]

Damn, now the 150 mph top speed of my car seems pitiful by comparison.

[MongoTheGeek]

Maybe Bush (not being political here) has the right idea with his non-manned launch announcement today. Though I do have a an issue with profit being tied to satellites that we need, to be launched by the highest bidder...

All in all i hope they can meet the goals for the final prize.

It has long seemed to be the case that the government got the best results for its money by just saying we want X who has the best bid. Micromanagement by political hacks has lead to more boondoggles.

[davecuse]

first the space plane

then this.
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm

Imagine what you could do if you didn't have to deal with propelling hunks of metal out of earths gravitational field. Pretty cool stuff. I think the next decade has a lot of really exciting advancements in store, nanotech is going to allow for a lot of possibilities. I see it furthering space exploration and aiding human longevity.

<offtopic>I was watching tv the other night and heard a line that struck a cord with me, there was an old man saying that according to the life expectancy back in the day he's already lived 20 years longer than he's supposed to. </offtopic>

[wdlove]

Call seen to privatize space project


By Beth Daley, Globe Staff *|* June 15, 2004

A commission developing a blueprint for the future of the American space program is expected tomorrow to recommend privatizing much of NASA's unmanned space exploration as the first step toward President Bush's vision of returning a man to the moon and eventually sending one to Mars.

The nine-member President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond, appointed by Bush, has been working since February on a report that recommends future directions for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. According to the website Space.com, which obtained a leaked copy of the report, the commission will recommend the creation of incentives such as tax breaks for companies that develop innovative technology or complete successful space missions. It also endorses a NASA plan for monetary prizes for those companies to quickly achieve those goals. Manned space travel, however, would remain under NASA's direct management.

''It's a fabulous idea, said George Whitesides of the National Space Society, a nonprofit group that supports human space exploration. ''The promise that this offers is an entirely new strategy in space. Every time we have opened up a particular sector [of government] to private development, we have gotten faster technology."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/06/15/call_seen_to_privatize_space_project/

[wdlove]

Privately financed bid would be a first


By Beth Daley, Globe Staff *|* June 20, 2004

Early tomorrow morning, in the middle of the Mojave Desert, a bulbous white rocket plane will attempt to climb 62 miles above the surface of the Earth in a bid to become the world's first private manned vehicle to reach space.

SpaceShipOne, a 25-foot long craft financed by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, is the frontrunner to win the Ansari X Prize -- a $10 million award offered by a St. Louis foundation for the first private spacecraft to prove it can ferry people to space.

If successful, the attempt could mark not just a landmark flight, but the start of a new type of space race: one among companies instead of countries.

''One person does it, and it shows it can be possible in the future," said Gregg Maryniak, chief operating officer of the X Prize, funded by a consortium of companies and individuals.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/06/20/rocket_plane_strives_to_break_space_barrier/

[jsw]

According to Scaled Composites (http://www.scaled.com/), the launch is scheduled for 6:30AM PST, and CNN (http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/june21faq.htm#live) is expected to carry it.

[wdlove]

According to Scaled Composites (http://www.scaled.com/), the launch is scheduled for 6:30AM PST, and CNN (http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/june21faq.htm#live) is expected to carry it.

I don't get CNN, so I will miss the launch. Hopefully they will carry the launch on our local news tomorrow.

[Chaszmyr]

Damn, now the 150 mph top speed of my car seems pitiful by comparison.

Yeah.. If my car went 3000mph+ I could sleep in an extra 15 minutes every morning!

[Frohickey]

Yeah.. If my car went 3000mph+ I could sleep in an extra 15 minutes every morning!

If your car went 670600000MPH+, you could sleep in for a long, long time, every morning. ;) :p :eek:

[jsw]

I don't get CNN, so I will miss the launch. Hopefully they will carry the launch on our local news tomorrow.

I'm going to try to tape it on my DVD recorder. "Try" meaning "I'm going to be at work, and I'll attempt to tape around the proper launch time, assuming CNN will, in fact, carry it."

If CNN does carry it, and I do get it on DVD, I'll try to make clips available.

Of course, by the time that happens, said clips will be all over the internet. So, well, I guess nevermind.

I'd attempt a QuickTime Broadcast or iChat session, wdlove, but I don't have an analog->DV converter (my Sony videocam is one generation too old to do that -- I can tape analog in, or I can connect via Firewire, but I can't transmit DV while inputting analog). Otherwise, I'd connect a TV out signal to my Mac and transmit.

If anyone has an analog->DV converter (many modern videocams will do), CNN, and a TV Out somewhere near a Mac, perhaps they could stream video to wdlove or another lucky member.

[Mr. Anderson]

It will be 9:30 AM on the East coast, but is launch when the plane/spaceship leave the ground or when the two separate and they start the rocket motor?

I'll catch it all on space.com and other news services later. I hope it goes well :D

D

[jsw]

It will be 9:30 AM on the East coast, but is launch when the plane/spaceship leave the ground or when the two separate and they start the rocket motor?

I'll catch it all on space.com and other news services later. I hope it goes well :D

D

According to their website:

"Currently we are planning to taxi out for takeoff at 6:30 a.m P.D.T."

They also state that the runway-to-runway total time is about an hour and a half, and that it takes about an hour of that time to reach launch altitude. Therefore...

I'm guessing that the actual "launch" will occur - if on schedule - around 7:30am PDT.

[iMook]

If your car went 670600000MPH+, you could sleep in for a long, long time, every morning. ;) :p :eek:

Actually, you wouldn't be able to sleep in for very long at all, even if your speed was just under lightspeed (as opposed to just above). Due to your acceleration and deceleration, your time would progress far more slowly than time on the outside. Thus, 15 minutes outisde would be maybe 0.003 seconds inside. Not much of a catnap if you ask me.


For the matter at hand, I sure hope that relatively high-quality clips of the (preferably complete) launch and flight of TierOne (White Knight + SpaceShipOne) will be online soon. Man, I can't wait, even though SpaceShipOne is basically just porpoising into space and back again.

[jsw]

CNN now says (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/06/21/suborbital.test/index.html) that the separation will occur at 10am ET, not roughly 10:30am ET, as mentioned on the Scalar Composites (http://http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/june21faq.htm#datetime) site (well, they say launch at 9:30 ET and "roughly an hour" until separation).

I'd guess that Scalar would know better than CNN, but we'll see. Or, for many of us, watch later. I'm on my way to work, and I'm taping CNN starting at 9:15am ET for a little over three hours. Hopefully, I'll have something when I come home.

[MongoTheGeek]

Watching the post flight press conference. They are getting technical.

When are their X Prize runs going to be?

[javabear90]

it worked!!!! Space Ship one has landed and it went 62 miles high! :cool: :D Now when can I go? :rolleyes:

[JesseJames]

That deserves a Righteous Stuff award:

[jsw]

Does anyone know if CNN carried it? I'd just like to know before I arrive home to crushing disappointment (I taped from 9:15amET-12:15pmET).

I know they had web coverage (via RealPlayer subscription I don't have and can't access through work anyway). I just don't know if CNN itself showed much.

[wdlove]

it worked!!!! Space Ship one has landed and it went 62 miles high! :cool: :D Now when can I go? :rolleyes:

Congratulations on a job well done. It's great that the private sector has actually entered into space. Will look forward to hearing about future plans.

[takao]

i really hope this gets through to ordinary people...i would love to see space once...just seeing the earth from that height must be fantastic

[JesseJames]

It's a baby step but sub-orbital transport looks like a doable reality than just a pipe-dream.
Imagine, New York to Tokyo in 30 minutes instead of 8 hours.
It's got to happen. This is the 21st century; it's got to happen.

Also, there is something seriously wrong when a bunch of dreamers can do a goal with a fraction of the money that it took the government to do the same thing.
Why aren't people like Burt Rutan in charge of NASA? A maverick, pioneer, genius. Not god damn corporate 'yes men'.

[Awimoway]

It's great news. Living in the same godforsaken desert, I thought about going out to see it. But I work swings. And I've been to things like this before (Shuttle landings at Edwards AFB), and the dust and traffic didn't sound worth it to me. I wasn't sure if I would see much anyway. But I'm glad it was successful.

[jayscheuerle]

Wonder what's up with the buckle in the frame by the nozzle. Rutan's always worked on the edge of engineering/elegance. You'd really hate to err on the side of weakness and have something go wrong that could cause someone to lose his life.

I wonder how it's going to do with increasing the payload by 200%... - j

[Frohickey]

Private Spaceship Encounters Glitches In Record-Setting Flight (http://space.com/missionlaunches/SS1_press_040621.html)

MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA*-- There were tense times during the sky-blistering flight of SpaceShipOne here this morning. Fighting control problems, pilot Mike Melvill wrestled with several anomalies that cut short a pre-planned altitude mark.

However, the first non-governmental rocket ship did succeed in flying to the edge of space, earning the craft’s pilot, Mike Melvill, the first set of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-issued commercial astronaut wings.

At a post-landing press briefing, the 63-year old Melvill described a series of technical snags that haunted his record-setting flight. Right after motor ignition, the pilot said the craft rolled 90 degrees to the left, then 90 degrees to the right. "It has never ever done that before," he explained.

Technical snags

Melvill said he leveled out the rocketship, but then experienced trim problems during his climb outside the Earth’s atmosphere*-- an issue that he dealt with as he made his way to a desert runway landing.

During SpaceShipOne’s climb, Melvill said he also heard a surprising bang, coming from the engine area where a fairing holding the craft’s nozzle buckled.

While an altitude of 360,000 feet was targeted, the rocket ship fell short of that mark, attaining 328,491 feet, reported Burt Rutan, head of the Scaled Composites team that designed and built the vehicle.

"It was not a smooth flight from the standpoint of trajectory," Rutan reported at the press briefing. "This was not a perfect flight," he said, although the overall performance of the rocketship was right on the money.

Rutan said the anomaly Melvill experienced was*"the most serious flight safety systems problem that we’ve had in the entire program."

Back up hardware on SpaceShipOne worked and the craft made a beautiful landing, Rutan said. "Even though we really didn’t go where we were planning to go today…makes me feel very good because I felt it’s important to put those kind of backup systems in…and they worked," he added.

"The backup saved the day," Melvill noted.

Free-floating chocolates

Rutan could not discount the possibility that another flight might be needed before committing pilot and hardware to fly back-to-back flights within a two-week period to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

How long the vehicle’s hybrid rocket motor operated is not clear, with data from the flight still being assessed. Whether the rocket motor was shut down by Melvill or stopped on its own is not known, Rutan said.

Melvill said his rocket flight was all very exciting. "I wasn’t scared…not afraid all the way up. But I was a little afraid on the way down."

At apogee -- the highest point of the rocket ship’s flight*-- Melvill pulled out of a flight suit pocket handfuls of chocolate-coated candies. He marveled at them as they floated free in the cockpit.

Awesome view

As SpaceShipOne arched over and headed toward Earth, Melvill said he began to hear sounds. "The noises you hear are like somebody talking to you very sharply. You begin to believe, wow, should I really be doing this?"

"The sky was jet black above," Melvill said. "The Earth is so beautiful ... It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. You really do get the feeling that you’ve touched the face of God when you do something like this, believe me."

Touching down at the Mojave Airport, the SpaceShipOne made a three-point landing, on two wheels, and nose-mounted skid.

"I was so glad to get it back down and make a decent landing that didn’t break anything," Melvill said. "I had to land with what I had," he added.

Upon touchdown and climbing out of the SpaceShipOne’s cockpit, Melvill was greeted by Apollo moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin.

"It meant a lot," Melvill said. "To have him come up and shake my hand and congratulate me and tell me that I’ve joined the club…that was serious stuff."

=====
Target altitude is 360Kfeet or 68.18 miles
Actual altitude reached is 328,491 feet, or 62.21 miles.

Sounds like they need to figure out why the fairing buckled and get that fixed, and make sure the fix doesn't break anything.

[StrangeQuark]

It's a baby step but sub-orbital transport looks like a doable reality than just a pipe-dream.
Imagine, New York to Tokyo in 30 minutes instead of 8 hours.
It's got to happen. This is the 21st century; it's got to happen.

Also, there is something seriously wrong when a bunch of dreamers can do a goal with a fraction of the money that it took the government to do the same thing.
Why aren't people like Burt Rutan in charge of NASA? A maverick, pioneer, genius. Not god damn corporate 'yes men'.

Actually, that'd be damn government 'yes men'. And the answer is that government does nothing well. Including govern.

[Thanatoast]

However, the first non-governmental rocket ship did succeed in flying to the edge of space, earning the craft’s pilot, Mike Melvill, the first set of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-issued commercial astronaut wings.

hehe, "rocketship" sounds like on old b-movie. or a radio program. :)

"come on, space cadet. we'll hop in our rocketship and head off those martians before they can attack earth!"

when do they start selling tickets? (he says as if he had the money to burn)

[brap]

when do they start selling tickets? (he says as if he had the money to burn)Haven't NASA been selling tickets for about 30 years? Surely these guys will have a waiting list as long as your arm by now, especially after this latest jaunt. Billionaire oil Sheikhs and the like...

[wdlove]

Private rocket lands spot in space history


Launch boosts hopes of would-be tourists


By John Antczak, Associated Press *|* June 22, 2004


MOJAVE, Calif. -- An ungainly looking rocket plane punched through the earth's atmosphere and then glided home to a desert landing yesterday in history's first privately financed manned spaceflight -- a voyage that could hasten the day when the final frontier is opened up to paying customers.

Pilot Mike Melvill took SpaceShipOne 62.2 miles above the earth, just a little more than 400 feet above the distance considered to be the boundary of space. The flight lasted just 90 minutes.

The spaceship was carried aloft under the belly of a carrier jet. The jet then released the spaceship, and its rocket engine ignited, sending it hurtling toward space at nearly three times the speed of sound. It left a vertical white vapor trail in the brilliant blue sky. SpaceShipOne touched down in the Mojave Desert at 8:15 a.m. to cheers and applause.

Melvill, 63, said seeing the curvature of the earth was ''almost a religious experience."

''It was really an awesome sight," he said. ''It was like nothing I'd ever seen before, and it blew me away."http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/06/22/private_rocket_lands_spot_in_space_history/