NEW SPACE RACE MOJAVE TEAM TO GET CANADIAN ROCKET RIVAL.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

SANTA MONICA - The private race to space looked like a contest between American and Canadian contenders Tuesday.

Famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan announced his SpaceShipOne rocket plane will make three spaceflights Sept. 29 through Oct. 13 from Mojave, and a Canadian space team said it also is aiming for a space launch in the fall to try to win a $10 million prize for the first privately built, reusable spacecraft.

``Our job here is to motivate kids, like Apollo motivated them 35 years ago,'' Peter Diamandis, chairman and founder of space competition sponsor the X Prize Foundation, said at the joint announcement at Santa Monica Airport.

SpaceShipOne's launch Sept. 29 will be open to the public at Mojave Airport, as was the start of the June 21 test flight that sent the rocket plane into space for the first time and drew thousands of cheering spectators.

Later flights from Mojave would also be open to the public, and the second could come as early as Oct. 4, the 47th anniversary of Sputnik's becoming the first satellite in orbit.

In Canada, the all-volunteer Leonardo da Vinci Project - one of the 26 other declared contenders for the Ansari X Prize - will roll out its balloon-launched Wild Fire rocket Aug. 5 in Toronto.

Leader Brian Feeney, who will ride in the craft, said the rocket's first flight would be into space, but he did not give a date.

``It's our intention to compete for the X Prize. We are in the hunt for it,'' Feeney said at the Santa Monica press conference.

Said Rutan later about his rival: ``What would get my attention is if he had announced a date.''

To capture the $10 million Ansari X Prize, a spacecraft must be privately financed and privately built, must make at least two flights above 100 kilometers - 62 miles - within two weeks, and must do it carrying a pilot and two passengers or a weight equivalent to two passengers. Twenty-seven teams have registered as contenders.

The prize is aimed at spurring the development of privately funded spacecraft and at opening space up to ordinary people, much as the Orteig Prize won by Charles Lindbergh for flying solo across the Atlantic in 1927 spurred commercial aviation.

``There are three or four human spaceflights a year. It's not enough. We need to get to three or four flights per day,'' Diamandis said.

On June 21, SpaceShipOne became the first private manned craft to reach space, flying to just above 100 kilometers.

The test was historic but not without problems. The rocket plane didn't go as high as planned, and it re-entered the atmosphere 22 miles off its target, though it glided safely back to Mojave.

After the flight, officials said there had been trouble with an actuator that helps control the roll.

Actually, Rutan said Tuesday, there was nothing wrong with the control: A wind shear hit the craft just as pilot Mike Melvill was pointing its noise up and caused the craft to roll. In addition, the rocket thrust was pointed off-center.

At the conference, Rutan did not announce who would pilot the coming SpaceShipOne flights. He said only that the choices would be limited to pilots who had flown powered flights in SpaceShipOne.

These pilots are Melvill; Brian Binnie, who flew the White Knight mother ship that carried SpaceShipOne aloft on its June 21 test; and Peter Siebold, all test pilots for Rutan's Scaled Composites aircraft company in Mojave.

There will be no passenger on the Sept. 29 flight, but there might be on later ones, though he hasn't decided, Rutan said.

``I really do want to fly passengers with this ship,'' Rutan said. 'We are considering flying people''

Rutan said he has a list of people who want to fly on SpaceShipOne. He wouldn't name any, but said they include ``significant folks.'' Rutan has also said in the past that he would like to fly on his spaceship.

In addition, Rutan said four organizations, including the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, have expressed interest in putting payloads SpaceShipOne.

While SpaceShipOne is backed by billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, who put up a reported $20 million, the DaVinci Project's Wild Fire has been built entirely by 500 volunteers, who have put in more than 150,000 man-hours.

For its flight, the Wild Fire rocket will be carried to 80,000 feet by a helium balloon and launched over the Pacific Ocean. The rocket's engine is expected to fire and power it into space, reaching about 2,670 mph.

For the return, the capsule section will separate from the propulsion section, and parachutes will lower both sections to the ground to be used again.

At the press conference, Feeney made a reference to Melvill's having tossed up a handful of M&M candies to watch them float weightless in SpaceShipOne's cockpit on the June 21 flight. Feeney said Wild Fire has room for 400 pounds of Smarties.

Building a spacecraft has been more difficult that he thought it would be, Rutan said.

``We had to develop our own avionics, and we had to develop our own rocket motor. Of the more than 40 airplane types I have built, I have never developed an engine,'' Rutan said.

Parking passes for the Sept. 29 to Oct. 13 flights at Mojave Airport can be purchased on the X Prize foundation Web site at www.xprize.org. The cost is $35 per car or $100 per recreational vehicle and covers all the Mojave X Prize flights. Preferred parking passes are $100 per car.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Burt Rutan, whose Mojave-built rocket ship might be top contender in a $10 million race, talks Tuesday at Santa Monica.

(2 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Models of rocket ships are lined up Tuesday at a press conference in Santa Monica about the $10 million competition for the first privately built, reusable space plane.

(3) Peter Diamandis, founder of space-competition sponsor the X Prize Foundation, points to models of rockets being privately developed for spaceflight.

(4 -- ran in Valley edition only) Burt Rutan, whose Mojave-built rocketship appears to be the top contender in a $10 million space race, talks about it Tuesday.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News