June 22, 2004
Private Astronaut arcs in the Edge of Space
Unless you were under a rock somewhere, you know that Burt Rutan's White Knight and SpaceShipOne combination made history yesterday by privately sending a test pilot to 100 Kilometers above the surface of the planet. At this altitude, you can see the stars and the terminator of the Earth.
I was there with friends, and while I missed the all night party, it was certainly exciting. I took a few pictures and some video, and will write up a longer description of the flight later.
From the New York Times article:
Posted by elkaim at June 22, 2004 12:16 PMA veteran civilian test pilot on Monday became the first human to reach space in a privately developed program, guiding a tiny rocket ship more than 60 miles above California in a flight with several white-knuckle moments.
In front of thousands of spectators and a teeming press corps, the squid-shaped craft, SpaceShipOne, was lifted into the atmosphere shortly after 6:30 a.m., attached to the belly of a sleek plane called the White Knight.
When the plane reached an altitude of 50,000 feet, it dropped the smaller craft, and its pilot, Michael W. Melvill, started the rocket that took him up nearly 300,000 feet more, to the beginnings of space. He then brought SpaceShipOne back to earth as a glider, touching down at 8:15.