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A veteran civilian test pilot has become the first human to reach space in a privately developed mission, 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. on Monday attached to the belly of a sleek plane called the White Knight. When the plane reached an altitude of 50,000 feet, or 15,000 meters, it dropped the smaller craft, and its pilot, Michael Melvill, started the rocket that took him up nearly 300,000 feet more.
Re: A First in Space, with Some Scary Moments
Posted by: chadsteele 2004-06-24 20:05:33 In reply to: John Schwartz
Isn't it funny, These guys take a privately designed and built plan and fly it to the edge of space, and all we hear about is how they almost didn't make it etc etc.
Why don't we concentrate on the fact that these guys on less than 20 million built a space shuttle. It doesn't have the capabilities of NASA's, but hell they didn't blow 50 billion dollars on it either. Let these guys run the space program and I'm sure we would have several space stations manned in space.
Look at the bright side, they made it, and they will make it again, and win the 10 million prize money.
Awesome guys keep going.
Chad.
Why don't we concentrate on the fact that these guys on less than 20 million built a space shuttle. It doesn't have the capabilities of NASA's, but hell they didn't blow 50 billion dollars on it either. Let these guys run the space program and I'm sure we would have several space stations manned in space.
Look at the bright side, they made it, and they will make it again, and win the 10 million prize money.
Awesome guys keep going.
Chad.
