- (AFP) -- A US rocket-plane, SpaceShipOne, became the
first privately-financed craft to fly into the fringes of space and return
to Earth.
-
- The mission, created by pioneer aviation engineer Burt
Rutan and paid for by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, could become a landmark
step to opening up space exploration.
-
- SpaceShipOne went more than 100 kilometers (62 miles)
from the Earth's surface, said the mission control, before safely returning
to Earth to be acclaimed by Rutan, Allen and tens of thousands of people
waiting at Mojave airport in the California desert.
-
- "It was a mindblowing experience," said Mike
Mellvill, the 62-year-old South African born pilot who was at the controls
of SpaceShipOne for the historic flight.
-
- The rocket-plane was launched from a specially made jet
at an altitude of 15 kilometers (48,000 feet). Its engine ignited for three
minutes, powering SpaceShipOne into the fringes of space before it fell
back to Earth, the mission control said.
-
- No non-government or state financed mission into space
has gone as far.
-
- Melvill gradually took control of the craft again and
from 25 kilometers (80,000 feet) altitude, it glided for about 17 minutes
back to the landing.
-
- Rutan set up a special company, Scaled Composites, to
develop and build SpaceShipOne, which cost 20 million dollars.
-
- After his landing, Melvill, who is a vice-president of
the company, paid tribute to Rutan's work.
-
- "This could not have been done without the brilliant
brain that this guy has," he said.
-
- "He thought it out, he thought of everything to
make it work and it worked exactly as he thought, even though we argued
with him and threw up roadblocks."
-
- Rutan also developed Voyager, the aircraft which in 1986
became the first to go around the world without refuelling. He also praised
Allen for providing the finance and not interfering in the design process.
-
- Rutan said some "risks" had been taken in the
design of SpaceShipOne -- a winged, bullet-shaped white rocket-plane that
weighs about three tonnes -- but that most of it had been the same as he
first thought of it in 1999.
-
- "There were three or four times during the flight
when everybody (in mission control) ... I saw those people emotional."
-
- The rocket-plane was taken off the ground by a specially
made jet, dubbed "White Knight".
-
- At 15 kilometers (48,000 feet), its rocket ignited for
about 80 seconds, propelling SpaceShipOne upwards at a speed of about 3,500
kilometers (2,200 miles) per hour, about three and a half times the speed
of sound, to a height of some 50 kilometers (160,000 feet) above the planet.
-
- When the rocket's fuel had been spent, SpaceShipOne kept
going up for about three minutes to its space destination.
-
- Rutan and Allen are aiming to bring space flight within
the range of the general public as well as win a prize for the first private
mission beyond Earth's atmosphere.
-
- "The flight is a milestone that may lead to a new
space age," Rutan said Sunday. "There is an enormous hunger to
fly in space and not just to dream about it."
-
- "The new private space entrepreneurs have a vision,"
he said. "We do want our children to go to other planets."
-
- Rutan is also eyeing a 10-million-dollar prize for the
first privately funded space vehicle that can carry two passengers and
a pilot to an altitude of 100 kilometers (62.5 miles) twice in two weeks.
-
- The Ansari X Prize has been offered by the X Prize Foundation,
a US-based group, in a bid to encourage commercial space travel. About
25 teams from seven countries are said to be in contention.
-
-
- http://mtf.news.yahoo.com/mailto?url=http://sg.news.yahoo.com/04062
|1/1/3l6xk.html&title=Private+rocket-plane+completes+historic+space+
mission&rf=f&pmesg=%E2%88%9D=news&locale=sg
|