Taking control away from the governmental pin heads. I wonder when governmental regulations about what they can and cant do will become a factor. Time for the government to levy taxes and setup quarrantine stations in space! Money to be made.
MOJAVE, Calif. — A jet with a rocket plane slung under its belly took off early Monday on a mission to make the first privately financed manned spaceflight.
The exotic White Knight (search) mothership lifted off about 6:45 a.m. PDT and was to take an hour to reach about 50,000 feet and release the rocket.
SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill (search) was to then ignited the rocket's motor and attempt to soar 62 miles high, then quickly fall back into the atmosphere.
SpaceShipOne was designed to make an unpowered landing back at Mojave Airport after an approximately 30-minute glide.
The rocket plane was so thoroughly prepared that no work was done on it over the weekend, designer Burt Rutan said Sunday as aviation enthusiasts gathered in the Mojave Desert.
The project was funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (search), who would only describe the cost as being in excess of $20 million.
SpaceShipOne has emerged as the leading contender for the Ansari X Prize (search), a $10 million award to the first privately financed three-seat spacecraft to reach 62 miles and repeat the feat within two weeks.
Monday's flight was not part of that competition, but Melvill was confident that the program will go on to claim the prize, which is intended to spur efforts to give the public access to space.
"I'm ready to go, boy, I am ready to go, and we are going to win the X-Prize. Put your money on it," he said Sunday.
Melvill, 62, was selected for the flight from among the project's three pilots. During a test flight last month, he flew the rocket plane to an altitude of about 40 miles.
Melvill is a test pilot and vice president-general manager at Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, which built SpaceShipOne.
He set national and world records for altitude and speed in certain classes of aircraft, and has logged more than 6,400 hours of flight time in 111 fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters. His test flights range from crop dusters to fighter jet prototypes and racing planes.
Originally from Durban, South Africa, Melvill and his wife, Sally, moved to the United States from England in the 1970s, and he is now a U.S. citizen. Melvill has a son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren.
Rutan gained wide fame by designing the Voyager aircraft which flew around the world nonstop and without refueling in 1986.
Rutan asserted that if NASA planned something like the flight of SpaceShipOne there would be less interest.
"The significance (of SpaceShipOne) is the realization that, hey, this is for us to do now. This is not only for governments to do," he said. "... I believe that realization will attract investment and that realization will attract a whole bunch of activity and very soon it will be affordable for you to fly."
Entire process is supposed to only take a few hours from start to finish. He got taxied up, blasts to 62 miles high, then a 30 minute glide back down. Not too long at all.
Not that it really matters - I would say hold off only if you're before the age of 35...chances are, if you are younger than that, in your lifetime the private sector will bloom immensly in space
But if you're older than 35 - it's a big risk to take imo
Not that it really matters - I would say hold off only if you're before the age of 35...chances are, if you are younger than that, in your lifetime the private sector will bloom immensly in space
But if you're older than 35 - it's a big risk to take imo
Why hold out though? Young or old, get experience with NASA then leave for the private sector. I doubt they would hire inexperience people on their team (looking for the best of the best).
I am under 35, and currently being offered a job working at NASA here at their GIS dept for internship. However I have been told that most likely I will be able to stay on after I graduate. The problem is that once I am in a cushy governement job I will not want to move. Once the private sector gets seroiusly involved in space I see them passing up NASA in space exploration....FAST. Just imagine your typical sci fi novel...If there is money to be made in space the companies will leave the government far behind. So do I trailblaze or just relax in a decent job with no risks?
Arilain wrote:I am under 35, and currently being offered a job working at NASA here at their GIS dept for internship. However I have been told that most likely I will be able to stay on after I graduate. The problem is that once I am in a cushy governement job I will not want to move. Once the private sector gets seroiusly involved in space I see them passing up NASA in space exploration....FAST. Just imagine your typical sci fi novel...If there is money to be made in space the companies will leave the government far behind. So do I trailblaze or just relax in a decent job with no risks?
"The problem is that once I am in a cushy governement job I will not want to move." Here is the flaw in your argument. You will be in a cushy only so long as NASA is ahead. If the private sector begins to take over, that government job will quickly go from cushy to crap. You may end up being forced in to the private sector at that point.
I would go with the government job for now and see how it pans out later. My advice would be to take the best of whats available now, but be willing to move in a few (or more!) years time.
Arilain wrote:I am under 35, and currently being offered a job working at NASA here at their GIS dept for internship. However I have been told that most likely I will be able to stay on after I graduate. The problem is that once I am in a cushy governement job I will not want to move. Once the private sector gets seroiusly involved in space I see them passing up NASA in space exploration....FAST. Just imagine your typical sci fi novel...If there is money to be made in space the companies will leave the government far behind. So do I trailblaze or just relax in a decent job with no risks?
Take the NASA job then jump ship to Buck Rogers Enterprises in 5 years.
MOJAVE, California (CNN) -- SpaceShipOne left the Earth behind on Monday morning and made its indelible entry in the history books as the first private spacecraft to carry humans into space. It touched down safely at Mojave Airport at 11:15 ET.
"It looks great," said Burt Rutan, chief of Scaled Composites, which built the craft. He gave a thumbs up on the runway as he squinted into the sun at the aircraft he designed.
At 10:51 ET, Mike Melvill ignited the rocket engines and piloted SpaceShipOne into the blackness of space. His trajectory took him more than 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, above Earth's surface, according to Scaled Composites flight officials.
"It was a mind-blowing experience, it really was -- absolutely an awesome thing," Melvill said after landing.
"The colors were pretty staggering. From up there, it's almost a religious experience."
Melvill said once he reached weightlessness, he opened a bag of M&M's in the cockpit that floated around for three minutes while the ship sailed high above California.
The rocket plane lifted off about 9:45 ET carried by the jet White Knight for an hourlong ascent.
At 10:35 ET, it reached 33,000 feet and the pilot reported all systems checked out for its space launch.
It received clearance to land and "go for light" -- the signal to begin launch countdown -- at 10:46 ET.
The pair approached 50,000 feet a few minutes later and SpaceShipOne decoupled from the jet. After a brief glide, Melvill ignited the engines and ascended at Mach 3, three times the speed of sound, into space.
From the cockpit, the curvature of the Earth and a thin blue line that demarcates our atmosphere was visible against the black sky. Melvill, the first astronaut to pilot a private spacecraft, maneuvered the plane for descent on the same runway it departed nearly two hours earlier.
On landing, Melvill told of a loud bang he heard during the flight. He said it appeared to have been part of the composite airframe buckling near the rocket nozzle. However, the slight indention in SpaceShipOne's exterior did not appear to have jeopardized the craft's performance.
"There was a lot thrust from the plane," said Melvill. "It took me by surprise back there. Everything went really well. I feel great."
The flight marks the pinnacle of Rutan's vision of affordable, safe private space travel. His company Scaled Composites built SpaceShipOne with financial backing from Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, for a little more than $20 million. From just a concept in 1995 to reality less than a decade later, Rutan said this was the realization of a long dream..
"I'm so proud of that, it brings tears to my eyes," he said.
The rocket plane made its farthest and fastest flight to date.
20 million investment capital only costing 10 million. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
And 20 mil to Paul Allen is insignificant, like 0.1% of his networth. Similar to someone with a networth of 1 mil spending 1000 bucks for perspective.
The prize is, of course, just a token to stimulate private sector interest through public awareness. The potential money to be made by a successful corporation is enormous.
