ROCKET PLANE IN LOFTY COMPANY AT MUSEUM.Byline: Staff and Wire Services WASHINGTON - Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne rocket plane joined the Wright brothers' first airplane and Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis Spirit of St. Louis Charles Lindbergh’s plane. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 287] See : Aviation at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., United States, and is the most popular of the Smithsonian museums. It maintains the largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world. . The first privately built craft to carry a man into space was officially welcomed to the ``Milestones of Flight'' gallery Wednesday as a crowd of several hundred people gathered to snap pictures. The manned vehicle takes its place in the glass-enclosed atrium between Lindbergh's plane that in 1927 made the first nonstop solo trip across the Atlantic Ocean Across the Atlantic Ocean is the twenty-eighth episode[1] of Mobile Suit Gundam. Plot summary Amuro and Sayla manage to reduce their time in docking the Gundam and the G-Fighter to fifteen seconds. and the X-1 rocket plane in which Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947 at what is now Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. . SpaceShipOne hurtled out of the Earth's atmosphere to reach suborbital suborbital /sub·or·bi·tal/ (sub-or´bi-t'l) infraorbital. sub·or·bit·al adj. Situated on or below the floor of the orbit of the eye. n. space in June 2004, climbing more than 62 miles above Mojave, where it was built. Last fall, it won the international Ansari X Prize The Ansari X PRIZE was a space competition in which the X PRIZE Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. - designed to encourage development of space tourism - after blasting into space twice in five days. ``I'm extremely pleased that the museum, this early, has understood the significance of what we completed last year,'' Rutan said. He envisions that within 10 years, people will be able to buy tickets and experience firsthand the thrill of weightlessness weightlessness, the absence of any observable effects of gravitation. This condition is experienced by an observer when he and his immediate surroundings are allowed to move freely in the local gravitational field. and stunning views. Rutan is designing passenger-carrying spacecraft for Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson. Zachary Wade, 8, of Great Falls, Va., could one day become one of those travelers. He and his father made the short trip into Washington on Wednesday just to get a glimpse of SpaceShipOne. ``I think it's interesting that such a small crew could get something like that up into space so quickly,'' Zachary said, his head tilted up toward the rafters where the craft resides. About 20 people were involved in the effort, Rutan said. SpaceShipOne was donated to the Smithsonian by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who invested more than $20 million in the project. Allen hopes it inspires others to explore the final frontier of travel. ``It was a lifelong dream to find a way to participate in this next generation of space exploration,'' Allen said. ``Ultimately, SpaceShipOne's presence in the Smithsonian shows once again that America's milestone flights are not all behind it.'' SpaceShipOne is the fourth aircraft designed by Rutan to be admitted to the Smithsonian's collection. Also there is Voyager, which in 1986 circled the globe on one tank of fuel, plus the Quickie kit-built plane, the revolutionary VariEze kit plane, and an unassembled un·as·sem·bled adj. Made or manufactured with parts or sections ready to be joined or fitted together before use: working with unassembled metal shelving. VariEze kit. The Associated Press contributed to this report. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- ran in Valley edition only) SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan stands beneath his craft at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. At left is museum director John R. Dailey John R. Dailey is a retired United States Marine Corps four star general who served as Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps (ACMC) and Chief of Staff from 1990 to 1992. He is has been the director of the National Air and Space Museum since 2000. . Haraz N. Ghanbari/Associated Press (2 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan stands beneath his craft at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images |
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