All of a sudden the X-Prize is news. This afternoon, Burt Rutan's spacecraft piloted by Mike Melvill climbed to a height of over 100km becoming the first privately owned and funded craft to reach space.
The flight began at 14:45 IST when White Knight took off from the Mojave Desert carrying SpaceShipOne. About an hour later and at an altitude of about 14km, the two craft separated. White Knight returned to base while SpaceShipOne continued its flight reaching the 100km mark 80s later.
Despite minor damage caused by a collapsing faring, SpaceShipOne returned safely to Earth at 16:15 IST.
While a world's first, this flight does not qualify SpaceShipOne for the X-Prize. To win, must make two further flights, both within two weeks of each other, carrying a total crew complement of three.
[spacetoday.net]
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