05 octobre 2004 05:58
Hurray for SpaceShipOne
Isabelle Hontebeyrie
"A stout, star-spangled rocket plane broke through the Earth's atmosphere to the edge of space Monday for the second time in five days, capturing a $10 million prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists."
The privately built SpaceShipOne took off underneath the belly of a mother plane that carried it about nine miles over the Mojave Desert. From there, SpaceShipOne fired its engine and streaked skyward at about three times the speed of sound on a half-hour flight that took it more than 62 miles high, generally considered the point where space begins.
SpaceShipOne — with test pilot Brian Binnie at the controls — then glided safely back to Earth (AP via Yahoo)
SpaceShipOne achieved its most spectacular flight yet, climbing to an altitude of 377,591 feet (71 1/2 miles) to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize on Monday.
X Prize officials said it set an altitude record exceeding the military X-15's top altitude of 354,200 feet (67 miles) set on August 22, 1963.
With a wish of "Good luck and Godspeed," mission control sent the privately funded craft toward space for the second time in a week, the requirements for winning the X Prize.
"Today we have made history. Today we go to the stars," said Peter Diamandis, co-founder of the X Prize Foundation. (CNN)
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