Spaceship One Flying Second Leg Today To Capture $10 Million XPrize

[Thomas Veil]

The Nasa equivalent of strapping a rocket to a bi-plane and using a computer screen to guide you into space (it is after all a fabric and glue spaceplane -- with a bit of wood in the front skid)....

The guy is still a garage-mechanic minded genius that likes to kick stuff out the door at low-cost instead of spending projects to death.

I have to agree. I'm not quite ready to kiss NASA off as irrelevant yet. And I'm sure not ready to risk my own life in this thing.

 

[sushi]

The thing is, this is the first prototype....the next generation which will be flying passengers up there in 5 years might be a bit more sophisticated.

Most certainly.

Funny how these spacecraft are quite similar when comparing them to the turn of the century biplanes..... which were entered into contests which the XPrize is modeled after

Ah, biplanes...and of course triplanes. Wonderful aircraft. Love the movie, "Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines." Many cool AC in that movie.

I went to the Reinbeck (sp?) air show a couple of times. So very cool. You know one very interesting point about the early biplane engines, is that the engine rotated with the propeller. Talk about your air cooled engine!

Also, the engines had two speeds: Full on and off. Fun to watch them fly.

Sushi

 

[sushi]

And I'm sure not ready to risk my own life in this thing.

A very key point.

What goes up, must come down. How it comes down is very important to the occupant be it a pilot, astronaut or passenger!

Sushi