SpaceShipOne and XPrize

Contrary to statements made by several media outlets, Burt Rutan, at
the post flight press conference, made it clear that the June 21, 2004,
flight of SpaceShipOne was NOT for the Ansari XPrize. Rutan said, "We had
planned that the next flight would be the first flight for the XPrize."
However, because of a elevator-trim actuator problem that decision has
been placed on hold, according to Rutan, for at least two days while they
study the engineering data.
Three rules preclude this flight from XPrize competition: the ship did
not have the required passenger ballast; the required recording
instrumentation was not installed; and, the XPrize Foundation was not
officially notified of the attempt.

With all that said, it was a thrilling event to witness. It made a lot of
eyeballs sweat.

Go Scaled!! Go Rutan!! Go Melvill!! Thanks, Paul Allen.

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer and Photographer

Casey Wilson wrote:
snip

With all that said, it was a thrilling event to witness. It made a lot of
eyeballs sweat.

Go Scaled!! Go Rutan!! Go Melvill!! Thanks, Paul Allen.


yeeHAW! My sentiments, exactly.

~D

"Casey Wilson" wrote in message
...
Contrary to statements made by several media outlets, Burt Rutan, at
the post flight press conference, made it clear that the June 21, 2004,
flight of SpaceShipOne was NOT for the Ansari XPrize. Rutan said, "We had
planned that the next flight would be the first flight for the XPrize."

I wonder if they'll close the KMHV for that flight too. Optimistically,
I thought I'd fly in before the protective NOTAM went into effect,
but the airport itself has been "Prior permission required" for the
last few days. Oh well. Perhaps without all the fuss next time it
might make a nice day out.

"Tony Cox" writes:

I wonder if they'll close the KMHV for that flight too. Optimistically,
I thought I'd fly in before the protective NOTAM went into effect,
but the airport itself has been "Prior permission required" for the
last few days. Oh well. Perhaps without all the fuss next time it
might make a nice day out.

One of the most impressive parts of the CNN coverage that I saw was the
background during the landing. There were *big* jets parked all over.
It struck me as being an atypical spacecraft landing site. I liked it.

--kyler

In article , Kyler Laird wrote:
One of the most impressive parts of the CNN coverage that I saw was the
background during the landing. There were *big* jets parked all over.
It struck me as being an atypical spacecraft landing site. I liked it.

It's also an airliner scrapyard/mothball yard. There are airliners
from many airlines, mainly complete apart from engines. Maybe 100 of
them.

When Xcor did their Ez-Rocket unveiling in late 2001, I flew there with
a couple of friends. Whilst waiting for the Xcor presentation to start,
a B727 on its last flight arrived. First, we thought it was going to do
a low pass over us and buzz us as it was a good 45deg off runway
heading. Then, engines howling, it made quite a steep turn less than 1
wingspan above the ground, aligned with the runway and flared at the
same time, then touched down. I didn't realise a B727 was that
manoevrable. Way cool.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

I flew (a rented Skylane) into MHV yesterday and flew out this afternoon
after all the excitement. It was painless getting the "Prior Permission", I
just called the airport operations number (on their web page) and asked.
Only strange thing was Bakerfield Approach told me that IFR flights were
prohibited into MHV - this made no sense to me, but weather was CAVU so I
canceled and just continued VFR. On my initial contact with Mojave Tower, I
gave them my Prior Permission number (PPR) and landed without a problem.
There was a TFR around the airport active from 6am to 9am this morning while
the actual launch was going on. However, several planes came in (with their
own PPR numbers) just before it became active.

What a day ! There was a palpable sense of history being made. Screw the
nit-pickers that argue this has all been done before. Its not what was
done - it was the way it was done. Scaled Composites is 125 guys working in
a hanger in the middle of nowhere and today they put a man in space and they
made it look easy. Way to Go!

-Brenor

"Tony Cox" wrote in message
ink.net...
"Casey Wilson" wrote in message
...
Contrary to statements made by several media outlets, Burt Rutan,
at
the post flight press conference, made it clear that the June 21, 2004,
flight of SpaceShipOne was NOT for the Ansari XPrize. Rutan said, "We
had
planned that the next flight would be the first flight for the XPrize."

I wonder if they'll close the KMHV for that flight too. Optimistically,
I thought I'd fly in before the protective NOTAM went into effect,
but the airport itself has been "Prior permission required" for the
last few days. Oh well. Perhaps without all the fuss next time it
might make a nice day out.

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 03:33:14 GMT, "Brenor Brophy"
wrote:

Way to Go!

-Brenor


We're on our way. No one is laughing anymore.
We may be decades away now from shmucks like us
taking ourselves to orbit by our own hand.

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see; Saw the
Vision of the World, and all the wonder that would be..." -Alfred
Tennyson

"Brenor Brophy" wrote in message
m...
I flew (a rented Skylane) into MHV yesterday and flew out this afternoon
after all the excitement. It was painless getting the "Prior Permission",
I
just called the airport operations number (on their web page) and asked.

Cool! I should have thought of that myself!

Did you get any special treatment after landing, or were you herded
with the folks who drove in? Is there camping on or near the field??

Some fine links to the story:

http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/000362.html

http://www.instapundit.com/archives/016113.php

I flew in on Sunday afternoon. The tower had me follow a truck to a parking
space just outside the Terminal Building. There was almost nobody about. We
didn't sign in or get any special pass. In the event security was pretty
laid back, you could enter the ramp area through the terminal building.
There was a sign saying "Air Crew & Passengers Only", so I figured this
covered me as I had an aircraft on the ramp. Once on the ramp you could
wander down to the Scaled building or up to the VIP viewing area under the
control tower. I did see some folks with ID badges that looked like they
were airport tenants and others who had "official" permission to be on the
ramp. Nobody I could see was checking these badges and plenty of people
didn't have them. At the start of the day I was in the public viewing area,
I decided to walk back to my plane to get batteries for my camera. One cop
stopped me on the way, but let me continue when I showed him my pilots
license, he did ask me "You're not going to take off are you?" which was a
pretty dumb question. Once I got on the ramp, I stayed there and watched
White Knight (with SS1 slung underneath) and the various chase planes taxi
right past me and then take-off.


"Tony Cox" wrote in message
ink.net...
"Brenor Brophy" wrote in message
m...
I flew (a rented Skylane) into MHV yesterday and flew out this afternoon
after all the excitement. It was painless getting the "Prior
Permission",
I
just called the airport operations number (on their web page) and asked.

Cool! I should have thought of that myself!

Did you get any special treatment after landing, or were you herded
with the folks who drove in? Is there camping on or near the field??