Private manned space plane unveiled

MSNBC ^ | 4/19/2003 | John Bonne

[Leroy S. Mort]

MOJAVE, Calif., April 18 — Aircraft designer Burt Rutan unveiled Friday a fully-built launch system that, if flights outside the atmosphere prove successful, would be the first private manned space program. Both the spacecraft, called SpaceShipOne, and its launch platform, a futuristic jet known as the White Knight, were developed and built in secret and have already begun tests at lower altitudes.

SOME OF THE BIGGEST names in space, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin, space tourist Dennis Tito and military officials, were on hand for Friday’s demonstration at the Mojave Airport, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. In its first public flight, the White Knight lifted steeply off the windswept tarmac, framed in the distance by dozens of mothballed commercial airliners. The jet easily handled steep climbs and turns in the blue desert sky before soaring up to about 9,000 feet and slowly spiraling down to a soft, extremely short landing more befitting a glider than what Rutan described as “our own B-52,” a reference to the bomber used to carry NASA’s X-15 demonstration vehicle to its launch altitude.

SpaceShipOne, the actual spacecraft, was not flown Friday, but its systems were demonstrated.

FULL ARTICLE

[Leroy S. Mort]

[Asclepius]

How strangely asymmetrical.

[cmsgop]

It looks kinda like a '70s IUD.......

[tet68]

So the space plane is underneath?
Interesting gear configuration too.

[Leroy S. Mort]

It looks kinda like a '70s IUD.......

I was a virgin til last week, so I wouldn't know....

[Sam Cree]

I think it is actually symmetrical, just odd. Quite elegant, though, IMO.

[anobjectivist]

Stuff like this is why I'm an aerospace engineer.

[SauronOfMordor]

So the space plane is underneath?

Carrying it underneath rather than "piggy back" makes separation safer for both

[JoeSixPack1]

I was a virgin til last week, so I wouldn't know....

There goes the nose job.....pinocchio! :-)

[Cultural Jihad]

Al Gore invented virginity.

[theFIRMbss]

>Stuff like this is why I'm an aerospace engineer.

Have you seen the group
that's got a re-entry craft
built around rotors?!

Very cool wiz kids
are pulling out all the stops
to win that X-Prize...

[TomB]

Stuff like this is why I'm an aerospace engineer.

Hey, look, this isn't rocket science.........

.......er, OK, maybe it is.

;-)

[Asclepius]

Quite elegant, though, IMO.

But think of how many jobs we'll lose to Mexico if this aircraft actually works. (Hey! I'm channeling Willie Green!)

[anobjectivist]

Sounds interesting, though I haven't seen it myself.

[Samurai_Jack]

So this plane doesnt reach escape velocity? Without the benefit of centrifugal force how does it remain aloft in the rarified atmosphere? What about reentry? Why are the windows all placed asymmetrically...

This is the reason why Im not a rocket scientist!

[theFIRMbss]

>Sounds interesting, though I haven't seen it myself.

[JoeSixPack1]

Hey, I was an aerospace machinist, and you guys need to brag less and clearify your blueprints more!!!! And can we all please just agree on a datum edge ??????? PLEASE!!!

:-)

[JoeSixPack1]

See, this is why I just make parts.

Go ask the engineers!! :-)

[edwin hubble]

It gets to the edge of space, but without the speed needed to stay in orbit.

It is sub-orbital, like the X-15, which also got to the edge of space.

[JRandomFreeper]

I was a virgin til last week

The IRS strikes again.

/john