June 2, 2003. Copyright Graphic News, All rights reserved.

GN15207C.jpg -- Picture caption. Picture shows Scaled test pilots (back, left to right) Brian Binnie and Pete Siebold -- who flew the White Knight mother ship carrying SpaceShipOne to nearly 50,000 feet on May 19 -- and (front) Mike Melvill and Doug Shane. MUST CREDIT Scaled Composites.
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Rocket ship prototype makes first flight

June 2, 2003 -- Graphic News, London: Want to take a trip into space for the price of an airline ticket? Then you could lift off as soon as next year aboard SpaceShipOne, a launch-ready prototype vying to win the $10 million X-Prize and become the first private passenger ship in space. 

The X-Prize Foundation wants to jump start the space tourism industry and buck the notion that only millionaires such as Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth can travel to the Òfinal frontierÓ on $20 million tickets. The prize will go to the first team to launch three people to a height of 100km (62.5 miles) and safely return them to Earth -- and then do it again with the same craft within two weeks. 

The X-Prize Foundation was started in 1996 by a coalition of St. Louis business leaders. The prize is the same in concept to the Orteig aviation prize won by Charles Lindbergh in 1927 for the first solo flight across the Atlantic. Major backing for the prize has come from credit card company First USA, the New Spirit of St. Louis Organization and the Danforth Foundation.

SpaceShipOne (SS1) -- designed and built by legendary aviation designer Burt Rutan -- is probably the leading contender among the 20 teams that have entered the contest from Argentina, Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom and United States.

In 1986, Rutan won the Collier Trophy, aviationÕs most prestigious award, when his Voyager aircraft made a record nonstop, unrefuelled flight around the world. During its nine-day, 25,000-mile flight, Voyager nearly doubled the previous distance record set in 1962 by a USAF Boeing B-52 bomber.

His latest venture, SpaceShipOne, was unveiled at Scaled Composites plant in Mojave, California, on April 18 and made its first Òcaptive carryÓ flight underneath its airborne launcher on May 20. SS1, which flew to nearly 55,000 feet mated with its jet-powered White Knight carrier aircraft, was described as Òsolid as a rockÓ by Rutan.

SS1 will be air launched from the White Knight, and powered by a solid fuel, liquid nitrous-oxide, hybrid rocket engine. Within seconds the ship will shoot upwards at an angle of 84 degrees. By the time the rocket has consumed its fuel, SpaceShipOne will have reached an altitude of 100,000 metres (328,000 feet) -- where only 0.1 percent of the atmosphere exists -- and entered sub-orbital flight. 

The pilot and two passengers will enjoy three or four minutes of weightlessness before gravity pulls the craft back into the atmosphere. Rutan has devised an ingenious system for a safe re-entry. The entire wing structure of SpaceShipOne tilts upwards about 70 degrees to control and guide the craft during descent while the fuselage acts as a giant air brake. 

Even though the ship will reach speeds of Mach 3 (3,580km/h, 2,225mph) during re-entry, the airbrake system eliminates the need for thick heat shields. At 24,400 metres (80,000 feet), the wings swivel back to a level position, and SpaceShipOne returns to Earth as a glider.

Ground vibration tests will be followed by drop tests over the next few weeks with the White Knight mothership releasing the spacecraft to glide back down to Earth. These will be followed by rocket tests. Only when spacecraft and pilot control are fully tested will Rutan's team attempt a launch upwards into space. 

Rutan says that winning the X-prize is an ÒinspirationÓ, not his ultimate goal and will not cover the costs of the project. When the program is operational, he hopes to fly three people into space once a week. ÒYou might think of [SpaceShipOne] as a sub-scale, proof-of-concept spaceplane for a 10-person spaceship,Ó a craft better suited to a profitable space tourism business.
/ENDS

Sources: Scaled Composites, X Prize Foundation, Aviation Week and Space Technology