June
21, 2004 - The age of commercial space exploration began today, with a bold and
unconventional reach into the heavens. Conventional wisdom said that only a government
could afford the resources necessary to touch the heavens; not so said out-of-the-box
thinker and designer Burt Rutan. In billionaire Paul G. Allen, he found a backer, in the
Ansari X-Prize he found motivation. The results? A spectacular history-making day in
gorgeous Mojave. Journalists all over the world have pontificated on the significance,
here I'll let the pictures do the speaking. As someone recently said, it was a good day to
be in Mojave!
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The White Knight and
SpaceShipOne taxied first, followed by Robert Shearer's Starship chaseplane |
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The Starship went first, followed by the White
Knight and SS1. The position of the runway and the timing of the mission makes photography
difficult, shooting directly into the sun for the first part of the takeoff roll. |
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Then it was time to wait, while the
White Knight climbed to altitude. Meanwhile, the Dornier Alphajet chase also took off in
front of the crowd. |
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In the photo on the left, with the new airport
sign, the White Knight's contrail can be seen in the upper left. |
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With the crowd looking directly into the sun and
listening to the broadcast radio chatter, it was firing time. A roar of applause broke out
as the white rocket smoke trail was first seen and rapidly grew in length. At right, White
Knight's contrail intersects with SS1's |
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| The touchdown in
front of the huge crowd was flawless...a perfect ending to such a historic event. For the
first time, the ship's name on the side was appended with the tag line, "A Paul G.
Allen Project." While talking with a representative of the X-Prize organization, I
was told that the flight reportedly reached an altitude of 328,500 feet, or 100.21
kilometers, crossing the internationally-recognized border into space. |
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While the ship sat on the runway
being secured by the Scaled ground crew, the White Knight did a celebratory pass overhead,
and a landing on Runway 26. Bottom left: This is what Mojave is all about - trains,
planes, space ships and wind turbines! |
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| Meanwhile, overhead,
the three chase planes passed in review. The
SpaceShipOne - having truly lived up to its name - is towed to parking in front of the
crowd, where pilot Mike Melvill is congratulated as the world's first commercial pilot
with astronaut rating. |
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A day's work done
by 9am...the ship is towed back to the shop, astronaut Mike (left) riding on the tailgate.
Just another day at the office...and at the airport, when the airport is Mojave! |
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All photos and text by
Alan Radecki |
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