SPACE COWBOYS STATE HONORS BRAINS BEHIND SPACESHIPONE.Byline: - Daily News LANCASTER - On the floor of the California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 State Senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate. , Senator George Runner George C. Runner, Jr. (born March 25 1952 in Scotia, New York) is a Republican California State Senator, who represents the 17th Senate District, which includes portions of Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County and Ventura County. , R-Antelope Valley, and Senator Roy Ashburn Roy Ashburn (born March 21, 1954 in Long Beach, California) is the California State Senator representing the 18th District, which includes Kern, Tulare, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties. , R-Bakersfield, have honored the individuals who were responsible for creating, designing, funding and piloting SpaceShipOne. It was the first nongovernmental flight to leave Earth's atmosphere “Air” redirects here. For other uses, see Air (disambiguation). Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earth's gravity. It contains roughly (by molar content/volume) 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0. . The team competed against 25 other teams from six countries for the 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. of $10 million. That cash bonus was awarded to the SpaceShipOne team members after they successfully launched their rocket plane into space twice within seven days last fall, creating the space tourism industry. ``The team that successfully built SpaceShipOne reminds us why we are the Aerospace Valley,'' said Runner. ``The ingenuity and commitment of SpaceShipOne's team continues the tradition of our region's leadership of the space industry.'' After the state Senate ceremony, the SpaceShipOne team was also honored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who congratulated the SpaceShipOne team in a private meeting that included Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, among others. Honored at the ceremony were Burt Rutan, founder of Scaled Composites, the principal designer and creator of SpaceShipOne; Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and Vulcan Inc. and the financial backer of the enterprise; Brian Binnie, one of the two pilots who flew the rocket plane into space and helped win the Ansari Prize; Mike Melvill, the first pilot, who was unable to attend the ceremony; and Stu Witt, general manager at Mojave Airport, who worked tirelessly to ensure that this California site was the location for another historic milestone. The SpaceShipOne team was also honored on the floor of the state Assembly, with Assembly Concurrent Resolution An action of Congress passed in the form of an enactment of one house, with the other house in agreement, which expresses the ideas of Congress on a particular subject. 7, co-authored by the Runners and Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield. The Assembly Concurrent Resolution, ACR See riser card. 7, was introduced to memorialize me·mo·ri·al·ize tr.v. me·mo·ri·al·ized, me·mo·ri·al·iz·ing, me·mo·ri·al·iz·es 1. To provide a memorial for; commemorate. 2. To present a memorial to; petition. the achievements of Allen, Rutan, Melvill and Binnie. ``It is a privilege to honor these men today, not only for their ingenuity, but for their bravery and courage as well,'' stated Assemblywoman Runner. ``These men truly represent the very best of California. Through their creativity, they help keep California at the forefront of science, technology and innovation, making our state the envy of the world.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) State Sen. George Runner, left, presents a proclamation to designer Burt Rutan, honoring Rutan and other members of the SpaceShipOne crew. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion