What's next is probably the need to go to 500,000 or more feet altitude,
which is the threshold for orbital flight. A trajectory with apogee below
that height is suborbital.

The biggest problem is probably going to be not getting up there but coming
down. There were all kinds of arcane problems for safe reentry including
still some degree of engineering black magic. ICBMs typically reached about
23,000 feet/second burnout velocity. But about 26,000 f/s is needed to reach
low earth orbit. Plus, a final kick velocity change is also needed to get
into the orbital trajectory after the rocket engine boost phases. All that
velocity then has to be burned off during reentry to arrive at a landing
speed of about 250 f/s over the runway. That velocity burn-off is what
destroyed the shuttle in February 2003 when it disintegrated during reentry
because of the loss of heat protection foam pads during boost phase.

I'm looking forward to seeing Rutan showing NASA how to reach space and
return without squandering the entire national treasury! NASA has a monopoly
on space fight long enough. It's time the civilian world had a shot at space
flight!

WDA

end



"Mike" wrote in message
m...
First private-sector spaceship rockets into history
A rocket plane flown by a 62-year-old pilot soared more than 62 miles
above Earth yesterday before gliding back safely to a runway in
California's Mojave Desert in the first privately financed manned
spaceflight.
at http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...5847-7577r.htm

so, what's next? The S-1 to S-22 aircraft(S for Space) to the moon?