ANOTHER GIANT LEAP TEST FLIGHT OF PRIVATE SPACECRAFT A SUCCESS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

MOJAVE - Marking the start of a new age of commercial spaceflight, a red, white and blue rocket plane zoomed Monday to 62 miles above Earth, becoming the first privately developed craft to reach space.

Famed designer Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne, financed with more than $20 million from billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, soared into space before thousands of spectators who gathered at Mojave Airport to witness history.

``The flight was spectacular,'' said pilot Mike Melvill, who, back on the ground after 3 1/2 minutes of weightlessness, was handed the first set of astronaut wings ever awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration. ``It was a mind-blowing experience.''

Covered by hundreds of news media representatives and televised live, the accomplishment was hailed as a historic milestone, the opening of human space travel to private enterprise, and an inspiration for youngsters.

``It's great to see so many young people turning out for a space event,'' said George Whitesides, executive director of the National Space Society. ``This is something that will change and shape their lives.''

Not only was SpaceShipOne the first privately financed, privately built craft to go into space, but it was the first American craft of any kind to take a man into space since the destruction of the shuttle Columbia 14 1/2 months ago.

``This is actually America's return to space,'' said Peter Diamondis, co- founder of the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million purse offered to the first commercial spacecraft to carry three people on two suborbital flights within two weeks.

``I'm overjoyed,'' Diamondis said. ``This is something that should have happened 20 years ago.''

Before the flight, Melvill's wife of 43 years, Sally, pinned a horseshoe pin onto his flight suit for good luck. The pin was one he had given her when she was 16.

``I've worn it on every flight, and, so far, it has kept the luck for me,'' Melvill said.

During his weightlessness, Melvill said, he had a few moments of fun.

``I pulled out chocolates that were candy-coated, and I let them go,'' Melvill said. ``They were floating around like little sparkly things.''

Melvill emerged from the spacecraft to be greeted by well-wishers, including astronaut and moonwalker Buzz Aldrin. Rutan, known best up to now for his Voyager aircraft that in 1986 flew around the world without refueling, hugged the pilot.

``We have redefined space travel as we know it,'' Rutan said in a statement issued after the landing.

SpaceShipOne, slung beneath a Rutan-designed mothership called the White Knight, taxied out to cheers from the crowd at about 6:38 a.m. and took off a few minutes later.

For more than an hour, the White Knight and the rocket plane spiraled slowly upward to the target altitude of about 47,000 feet. Melvill described that as a very lonely time because there was little for him to do.

At about 7:50 a.m., the go-ahead was given for White Knight to release SpaceShipOne. Shortly after, Melvill ignited the engine, and onlookers saw the spacecraft's white contrail as it streaked upward.

As it climbed, the rocket plane rolled unexpectedly to its left. Melvill corrected the controls and continued on. Near the 62-mile mark, a problem was detected in an actuator that helps control the roll. Melvill switched to a backup system.

The view during his brief minutes in space was spectacular, Melvill said.

``The sky was jet black, and there's a light blue line along the horizon,'' Melvill said. ``The Earth is so beautiful.''

Afterward, the SpaceShipOne team said the actuator problem caused the rocket plane to miss its re-entry target area by about 22 miles, which it covered in about five seconds, though it remained within reach of Mojave Airport.

``That is the most serious flight safety problem we've had,'' Rutan said.

Something also buckled an engine faring, which might have contributed to the spacecraft peaking about 32,000 feet shy of the 360,000-foot goal.

Rutan said the team would take several days to analyze the actuator problem before determining how to proceed with flight tests. Originally, Rutan said, he had planned on going after the Ansari X Prize on the next two flights.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

drawing, 3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) White Knight, called the ``mothership'' for the test of SpaceShipOne, lifts off a Mojave runway Monday morning on its historic flight.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News

(2 -- color) Cockpit of the White Knight

(3 - color) Just like NASA, Scaled Composites has its own mobile version of mission control to provide telemetry and communications for SpaceShipONe and White Knight.

Drawing/Box:

AT THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE

John Gerung/Staff Artist