BREAKING NEWS! Private Spaceship Completes Second Rocket-Powered Test Flight

Space.com ^ | 4/8/04 | Leonard David

[Brett66]

BREAKING NEWS! Private Spaceship Completes Second Rocket-Powered Test Flight

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 02:25 pm ET
08 April 2004

UPDATE: Story first posted 1:40 p.m., April 8, 2004

The privately-backed SpaceShipOne suborbital rocket plane made its second powered flight today.

Built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, the piloted vehicle was powered by a hybrid rocket motor to over 105,000 feet. The engine burned for 40 seconds, zipping to Mach 2, or two times the speed of sound, according to a source that witnessed the test flight high above Mojave, California skies.

SpaceShipOne's second successful powered flight was piloted by Peter Siebold.

No details about the flight have been publicly issued by Scaled Composites, although the firm did respond to SPACE.com inquiries that, indeed, the flight had occurred and a de-briefing about the vehicle’s handling during the test is underway.

SpaceShipOne’s first powered flight took place on December 17, 2003. In that test, the motor roared to life for 15 seconds. According to another Scaled Composites source, today's flight was the 13th airborne demonstration of the vehicle.

Extensive testing

The Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne project is being led by aircraft designer Burt Rutan, who heads the company. A major contractor for the hybrid motor used in the craft is SpaceDev of Poway, California.

The rocket plane and its carrier mothership, the White Knight, were rolled out in a public ceremony on April 18, 2003. Nearly a year later, the SpaceShipOne has undergone extensive piloted glide tests, and now two powered flights.

Scaled Composites has its eyes on snagging the X Prize, a high-stakes international race to fly a reusable private vehicle to the edge of space and return safely to Earth.

The X Prize Foundation of St. Louis, Missouri will award $10 million to the first company or organization to launch a vehicle capable of carrying three people to a height of 62.5 miles (100 kilometers), return safely to Earth, and repeat the flight with the same vehicle within two weeks.

The clock is running

For the cash prize, however, the clock is running as the $10 million purse expires as of the end of this year.

Twenty-seven contestants representing seven countries have already registered for the X Prize contest, modeled on the $25,000 Orteig Prize for which Charles Lindbergh flew solo from New York to Paris in 1927.

Just yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it had issued the world's first license for a sub-orbital manned rocket flight.

The license was issued April 1 by the DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation to Scaled Composites. This federal paperwork green-lighted a sequence of sub-orbital flights by Scaled Composites for a one-year period.

Safety first

The FAA sub-orbital space flight license is required for U.S. contenders in the X Prize competition. In its 20 years of existence, the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation has licensed more than 150 commercial launches of unmanned expendable launch vehicles.

The license to Scaled Composites is the first to authorize piloted flight on a sub-orbital trajectory, the DOT statement noted.

While the highest criteria to issue a license are public safety, applicants must undergo an extensive pre-application process, demonstrate adequate financial responsibility to cover any potential losses, and meet strict environmental requirements.

[Brett66]

From what I've read at transterrestrial.com the flight went faster than Mach 2 and over 105,000 feet.

[Frank_Discussion]

They need 62 miles altitude, right? They've gone about a third of the way there, so that's very good progress.

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[billorites]

[Crazieman]

I was hoping to see John Carmack's project get going.

[Lokibob]

I didn't realize it was 300,000 plus feet for a goal.

Thanks

[dogbrain]

...Mexican food...?

[Jack Black]

It's an interesting comment. Someone else made the comment that there is a big difference between sub orbital and orbital. They won't be having to deal with the re-entry issues, that as we saw with the shuttle, are very difficult.

The guy who heads this firm knows exactly what he's doing, and he's building a plane to WIN THIS PRIZE and that's it. Yeah, the PR will be great. But it's not a vehicle that can be then put into orbit, replace the shuttle or let the Free State Project get their orbital libertarian habitat up there.

Still AWESOME JOB! Proud to be an American. Go team USA.

[Brett66]

Surprised at how fast Rutan was at giving the go-ahead for another flight after they obtained the FAA license, the prize will probably be won in less than 3 months. I heard the New Mexico legislature has approved 9 million for a 2nd Xprize, onward and upward........

[Brett66]

This variant of their spacecraft will not be doing anything other than securing the prize, however I've seen pics of what Rutan's second generation craft will look like. It's like SS1's bigger brother designed to carry 6 passengers into space.

[Desron13]

Looks like a classic case of too many tacos and refried beans.

[RightWhale]

Tnx for the link.

Mach 2 is about 1500 mph. They'll need about a 2 minute burn.

[Centurion2000]

I didn't realize it was 300,000 plus feet for a goal.

Interesting, I thought Air Force pilots got astronaut wings when they broke 100,000 feet.

[NormsRevenge]

Bump

[RightWhale]

There should be more news. What's going on?

[techcor]

Commercial space flight will only really take off when we use nuclear power. I'm looking into coherent nuclear resonant scattering as a way to have radiation (x-ray, possibly gamma) that can be switched on and off depending on the magnetic field. Cool stuff.

[dalereed]

Bump for Burt!

[Mr.Atos]

Macrosoft... Galactic Explorer. Version 1.0

[Southack]

"Mach 2 is about 1500 mph. They'll need about a 2 minute burn."

Would you settle for an 80 second burn today?!