Passenger-Carrying Spaceship Makes Desert Debut
What has been billed as the "First Private Manned Space Program" and a new, never-seen spaceship, was unveiled today by noted design wizard Burt Rutan and his company, Scaled Composites, Inc. Aggressive work on a passenger-carrying sub-orbital craft has been active and hidden from public view for two years. Labeled as the SpaceShipOne Project, the unveiling took place here about 80 miles north of Los Angeles before a large crowd of journalists and invited guests.
The company plans to use the craft to compete for the X Prize, a $10 million cash prize that will be awarded to the first team
that successfully launches three people to an altitude of 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) returns them safely to Earth and then repeat that feat with the same vehicle within two weeks. In a lengthy briefing for the media, Rutan declined to answer a number of questions about technical specifications of the spacecraft, including its weight. SpaceShipOne will be air launched from a twin turbojet research aircraft with an 82-foot wingspan that was developed by Scaled Composites. The first flight of that aircraft, called the White Knight, took place on Aug. 1, 2002. Rutan said he could not estimate when he could make the first launch attempt. He did say that before going for the X Prize qualifying altitude there will several flight tests that begin with gradual expansion of the flight envelope, captive carry and drop tests.
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