Posted on 06/11/2008 12:18:49 PM PDT by BenLurkin
PALMDALE - A stubby, star-spangled spacecraft made history in June 2004 in the skies over Mojave as the first privately funded manned space program. The story of SpaceShipOne and the people behind its success - notables such as aerospace designer Burt Rutan and mogul Sir Richard Branson - has been told in a variety of forums, but a new book brings it all together and offers a look at the more technical aspects of the program.
"SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History" chronicles the development and successful spaceflights of the Mojave-based project which ushered in the possibility of space travel for the masses.
Author Dan Linehan will sign copies of his book at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 39228 10th St. West. His appearance is sponsored by SoCal Science Cafe, a nonprofit public outreach organization.
Copies of the book are available at Barnes & Noble for $34.95.
"It's been a challenge. There's really no definitive book about SpaceShipOne," Linehan said of the project.
The book offers the SpaceShipOne story with a technical perspective, detailing such facts as the materials used to build the spacecraft and a detailed diagram of the cockpit controls.
After SpaceShipOne was enshrined in 2006 in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, the museum sought a book to go with the new display in the Milestones of Flight Gallery. Museum officials contacted Linehan's publisher, Zenith Press, and he was eventually tasked with creating the book.
Access to the famously secretive Scaled Composites team was not easy to obtain, Linehan said. Eventually, he was put in contact with Vulcan Inc., Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen's corporation, which financed the SpaceShipOne project and contributed to the program's development and management.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
Burt Rutan (L.) with SpaceShipOne, the spacecraft that he designed,
in the Scaled Composites hangar at the Mojave Spaceport.
The day before this photo was taken, SpaceShipOne won the $10-million
Ansari X PRIZE by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two-week period.
Someday in the history books it will be...
made history in June 2004...zzzz... zzzz... zzrrt! Hmm? Musta dozed off...
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