SPACESHIPONE, TAKE TWO CRAFT WILL ATTEMPT PRIZE FLIGHT MONDAY.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer MOJAVE - The SpaceShipOne team will attempt to win the $10 million 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. on Monday, the 47th anniversary of the start of the first space race when the Soviet Union launched its Sputnik Sputnik: see satellite, artificial; space exploration. Sputnik Any of a series of Earth-orbiting spacecraft whose launching by the Soviet Union inaugurated the space age. satellite. Mojave Aerospace Ventures Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV) is a company founded by Paul Allen and Burt Rutan to handle the commercial spinoffs from the Tier One project. It owns the intellectual property arising from Tier One, and it is in turn owned by Paul Allen (the majority shareholder) and Burt , the partnership between billionaire Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953 in Seattle, Washington) is an American entrepreneur. With Bill Gates, he formed Microsoft. and Mojave's Burt Rutan Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (born June 17, 1943 in Estacada, Oregon) is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. , announced it plans to fly SpaceShipOne at dawn Monday to claim the prize. SpaceShipOne successfully completed its first Ansari X Prize flight on Wednesday, climbing 63 miles above Earth. Monday's flight out of Mojave Airport will be open to spectators, like Wednesday's flight. Cars will be admitted beginning at 3 a.m. for $20 each. Motor homes can spend the night before for $50. The prize rules require the winning spacecraft to be privately financed and privately built, to make at least two flights above 100 kilometers - 62 miles - within two weeks, and to do it carrying a pilot and two passengers or a weight equivalent to two passengers. If the SpaceShipOne team is unsuccessful on Monday, it does have another rocket engine ready for another attempt. The SpaceShipOne team has until the morning of Oct. 13 to make the second flight above 100 kilometers. Monday will be the anniversary of the 1957 launch of Sputnik, a satellite about the size of basketball, launched by the Soviet Union. The Sputnik launch caught the world off-guard and ushered in the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. X Prize Foundation leaders hope the $10 million payout will also usher in a new age in space travel, this time led by the private sector. The ultimate payoff for this competition, space advocates hope, is affordable space travel for the average person. The nearest competitor for the prize, a Canadian project with the ungainly title of the GoldenPalace.Com space program powered by the da Vinci Project The da Vinci Project was a privately funded, volunteer-staffed attempt to launch a reusable manned suborbital spacecraft. It was a contender for the Ansari X PRIZE for the first non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft. , had planned to make its first attempt on Oct. 2. That team, however, announced last week that it had to postpone the flight, and no new date has been announced. The Canadian team's spacecraft is called Wild Fire - a rocket that will be carried aloft above Saskatchewan by a helium ballon bal·lon n. Buoyancy or lightness in movement that allows a dancer to rise and fall smoothly. [French, balloon; see balloon.] , then ignited to zoom into space. On June 21, SpaceShipOne became the first private manned craft to reach space, flying to just above 100 kilometers. For the feat, SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill was awarded astronaut wings by the Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control . On Oct. 3, the Discovery Channel will air ``Black Sky: The Race for Space,'' a documentary detailing the development of SpaceShipOne and the June flight. A revised version of the show with highlights from the two Ansari X Prize flights will air later this month. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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