MSNBC is reporting that Scale Composite's White Knight carrier plane carried Spaceship One aloft for anouther test flight Thursday April 8, 2004. The spacecraft operated its rocket engine for 40 seconds reaching Mach 2 and 105,000 ft altitude. Before takeoff the twin boom, twin jet White Knight carrier plane stradles the Spaceship One spacecraft and is supported by four landing gear. The twin tailed Spaceship One is equiped with a single hybid solid/liquid rocket engine and a large hinged section for use during rentry. Both vehicles have similar arrays of circular viewports near their pointed nose instead of more conventional canopys or windscreens.

The MSNBC article went on to report that donations and insurance arrangements financing the ten million dolor "X Prize" limited its availability to the remainder of 2004. MSNBC reported that a second posible contender is a Canadian based team called "The da Vinci Project" and their spacecraft that is designed for launch from a piloted heliem ballon at 80,000 ft altitude. The Canadian craft would complete its flight with a parachute landing.

Robert

Near KORF

• RE: Spaceship One Flys Again,Ben_Chiu, 18:14z, 04-12-04
  • RE: Spaceship One Flys Again,RobertVA, 04:09z, 04-13-04
    • RE: Spaceship One Flys Again,Ben_Chiu, 18:06z, 04-13-04

Greetings Robert:

Do you know what altitude one needs to achieve to win the X Prize?

I'd love to see an FS version of Space One!

I don't seem to recall ever seeing any FS aircraft that can be dropped from another aircraft X-15 style. Anyone ever see one?

Ben

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I think I read somewhere recently that the X prize requires an altitude in the neighborhood of 330,000 ft. I think it also requires two flights within a period of a few weeks too.

Robert

Near KORF

> I think I read somewhere recently that the X prize requires an altitude
> in the neighborhood of 330,000 ft.

I guess Rutan and co. have quite a ways to go yet then. We're rootin' for 'em!

Ben

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