Replies

1 posted on 06/20/2004 6:06:20 PM PDT by KevinDavis

To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; sionnsar; *Space; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; ...

I thought I ping the usual suspects!

Space Ping! This is the Space Ping List! Let me know if you want on or off this list!

3 posted on 06/20/2004 6:07:49 PM PDT by KevinDavis (Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)

Since you started the live thread you have to stay up all night to monitor it. We'll be checking on you.

4 posted on 06/20/2004 6:08:54 PM PDT by Rebelbase ( aka Gassybrowneyedbum)

Go baby - Light the Candle!

5 posted on 06/20/2004 6:12:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Private Rocket Plane to Launch from Mojave Desert

MOJAVE, Calif. (Reuters) - Media and early onlookers flocked to the California desert on Sunday to witness the historic flight of the world's first privately funded rocket plane beyond Earth's atmosphere.

SpaceShipOne, designed by legendary aerospace designer Burt Rutan and funded by billionaire Paul Allen, will be launched from a larger plane and, after igniting its burners, fly 62 miles into space and back down again, a distance that will officially make test pilot Michael Melvill an astronaut.

"We do want our children to go the planets," said Rutan, the pioneering aerospace engineer who also designed the Voyager aircraft, the first airplane to fly around the world without refueling.

The white rocket plane with its striking nose -- a pointed cone covered with small portholes, was built with more than $20 million in funding by Allen, who co-founded Microsoft Corp.

"Tomorrow we will attempt to add a new page to the aviation books," Allen told more than 300 reporters gathered for the event, "It's incredibly exciting."

If all goes well, Allen and SpaceShipOne's builders are expected to announce their next goal after SpaceShipOne's flight, the Ansari X Prize, which is offering $10 million to the first team that sends three people, or an equivalent weight, on a manned space vehicle 60 miles above the earth and repeats the trip within two weeks.

"I am ready to go, and we are going to win the X Prize," said Melvill, 62, a professional test pilot from South Africa with U.S. citizenship.

In its last test flight in May, SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 40 miles, or about two-thirds of its goal.

Allen and Rutan's team said its members are confident of success and have invited the general public to the Mojave Airport, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, to witness Monday's 6:30 a.m. Pacific (9:30 a.m. EDT) launch attempt.

"It should be heavy traffic," said California Highway Patrol officer Joel Martinez, "We're preparing extra personnel for getting people in safely."

The flight itself will last about 85 minutes, including the time it takes for SpaceShipOne to be carried to an altitude of 50,000 feet by a larger aircraft called the White Knight.

After burning its rocket for 80 seconds, SpaceShipOne will spend about three and a half minutes at its peak altitude, during which the test pilot will experience weightlessness and see the black expanse of outer space.

Then the pilot will tilt SpaceShipOne's delta-style wings to slow the vehicle during reentry before it glides back to the Mojave Desert and into history books.

6 posted on 06/20/2004 6:13:16 PM PDT by Momaw Nadon (Goals for 2004: Re-elect President Bush, over 60 Republicans in the Senate, and a Republican House.)

9 posted on 06/20/2004 6:18:44 PM PDT by KevinDavis (Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)

Kick the tires and light the fires!

Go SPACESHIP ONE!!!

10 posted on 06/20/2004 6:18:59 PM PDT by Ronin (We are in a war. The enemy is Islam. It's time we stopped pretending otherwise.)

To: KevinDavis; BurbankKarl

Nothing like an early start! :-)

I live out here and plan to watch from my house. The scanner's all set to record, too.

Ping to BK

14 posted on 06/20/2004 6:23:47 PM PDT by lainie

20 posted on 06/20/2004 6:34:14 PM PDT by Brett66

T minus 11 hours 55 minutes.

21 posted on 06/20/2004 6:37:05 PM PDT by Musket

I think Ray Bradbury will be following this launch very avidly.

24 posted on 06/20/2004 6:52:07 PM PDT by BCrago66

Light the candle and...

GOD SPEED!

27 posted on 06/20/2004 6:59:49 PM PDT by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)

30 posted on 06/20/2004 7:02:43 PM PDT by steplock (http://www.gohotsprings.com)

Here's my favorite pic so far, it's titled "Wind & Space" and is from the Mojave Airport website.

Click for larger version

46 posted on 06/20/2004 8:24:49 PM PDT by Fixit (Godspeed SpaceShipOne.)

One of the head guys on this project is the son of one of my elementary school teacher's.

My town will be paying close attention tomorrow, that's for sure.

48 posted on 06/20/2004 8:31:41 PM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?" -- Abraham Lincoln)

51 posted on 06/20/2004 9:39:35 PM PDT by tophat9000

Art Bell just said that all of the networks are heading over to Mojave cover this.

54 posted on 06/20/2004 10:09:55 PM PDT by Musket

A so I can find the thread tomorrow bump....

56 posted on 06/20/2004 10:22:07 PM PDT by mwyounce

Okay, I'm working mid shift and won't be home in time to watch the flight, so I'm here...

Screen grabs welcome ;-)

58 posted on 06/21/2004 2:54:37 AM PDT by hattend

74 posted on 06/21/2004 5:08:13 AM PDT by A. Morgan (3,000 Americans didn't survive the Clinton administration's incompetence, vileness, and corruption.)

This should be Breaking News... Less than a hour to go!

92 posted on 06/21/2004 5:44:48 AM PDT by KevinDavis (Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)

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