"It was an incredible sight!" said SpaceDev founding chairman and chief executive Jim Benson. "We were watching as the White Knight dropped SpaceShipOne at about ten miles up, and we waited breathlessly as the White Knight pealed off and SpaceShipOne fell for a few seconds. Then with a really visible flash of light and stream of smoke, our rocket motor lit, and SpaceShipOne seemed to blast straight up for about 15 seconds that seemed like minutes. Then the flame and smoke stopped, but you could still see little SpaceShipOne coasting up toward space at an incredible speed. What a sight! It was even more exciting than watching Apollo 17 lift off at night way back in 1972. After working on this project for four years, space is now exciting again!"
After being released by the White Knight, a carrier aircraft, SpaceShipOne Test Pilot Brian Binnie flew the ship to a stable, 0.55 mach gliding flight condition, started a pull-up, and fired its hybrid rocket motor. Nine seconds later, SpaceShipOne broke the sound barrier and continued its steep powered ascent. The climb was very aggressive, accelerating forward at more than 3-g while pulling upward at more than 2.5-g. At motor shutdown, 15 seconds after ignition, SpaceShipOne was climbing at a 60-degree angle and flying near 1.2 Mach (930 mph). Brian then continued the maneuver to a vertical climb, achieving zero speed at an altitude of 68,000 feet.
"This successful and historic flight is important because we are showing that the private sector can perform human space flight faster, safer and cheaper. In addition, this is historic because it is the first human flight ever powered by hybrid rocket technology, and SpaceDev is proud to be leading the way, by providing critical hybrid motor components and technology to Scaled. It is creating this kind of challenge and stimulating a renewed sense of excitement about space that caused me to start SpaceDev," said Benson. "The entire SpaceDev engineering team is pleased to help pioneer this New Space Age."