SpaceShipOne: first privately funded crewed spaceflight
SpaceShipOne: primer vuelo espacial tripulado privado
- Date
- 21 de junio de 2004 · confidence high
- Place
- Mojave Air and Space Port, California, United States
- Credited to
- Scaled Composites (Burt Rutan) and Paul Allen
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A suborbital rocket plane funded by Paul Allen and launched from a mother ship, which exceeded 100 km altitude with a pilot. It won the 10-million-dollar Ansari X Prize after two flights within days.
The first space flight (21 June 2004, Mike Melvill) exceeded 100 km; the two prize flights were on 29 September and 4 October. Earlier, the X-15 (1963) exceeded 100 km with public funding.
What it led to
- Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and suborbital tourism
- re-entry with a pivoting tail ('feathering')
- a stimulus for the private space industry