Jim Carriere wrote...
I was at the Smithsonian Museum (the Air and Space one in Washingtion
D.C.) last weekend, where Spaceship One hangs in the lobby. Does
anybody know why there is a dent in the bottom of the fuselage, very
close to the back? I wonder if I missed something in the press releases
or other coverage. There are bits of online literature that acknowledge
but don't explain the dent.

Great museum, by the way, both of them in fact (the other one is close
to Dulles airport). I'm preaching to the choir here

That's the result of the first space shot back in June of last year. Their
chief aerodynamicist (Jim Tighe - really cool guy, BTW) developed the
fairing to smooth out the flow going over the nozzle, and the June 21st
flight was the first to fly it. Apparently the loads on it were greater than
expected. I guess they figured it didn't hurt anything, because the X-prize
flights it still had the same dented fairing now sporting a Virgin Galactic
logo.

For those who don't know the fairing in question, here are two shots from
the Scaled website. One without the fairing, and one with the dented fairing
while gliding down from the June flight.
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...16_from_ex_800
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...P21jun04_2_047

-Tony Goetz