[MilCom] BREAKING NEWS! Private Spaceship Completes Second Rocket-Powered Test Flight

[GG]

Thu Apr 8, 3:04 PM ET

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer, SPACE.com

The privately-backed SpaceShipOne suborbital rocket plane made its
second powered flight today.


Built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, the piloted vehicle
was powered by a hybrid rocket motor to over 105,000 feet. The engine
burned for 40 seconds, zipping to Mach 2, or two times the speed of
sound, according to a source that witnessed the test flight high above
Mojave, California skies.


SpaceShipOne's second successful powered flight was piloted by Peter
Siebold.


No details about the flight have been publicly issued by Scaled
Composites, although the firm did respond to SPACE.com inquiries that,
indeed, the flight had occurred and a de-briefing about the vehicle's
handling during the test is underway.


SpaceShipOne's first powered flight took place on December 17, 2003. In
that test, the motor roared to life for 15 seconds. According to another
Scaled Composites source, today's flight was the 13th airborne
demonstration of the vehicle.


Extensive testing


The Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne project is being led by aircraft
designer Burt Rutan, who heads the company. A major contractor for the
hybrid motor used in the craft is SpaceDev of Poway, California.


The rocket plane and its carrier mothership, the White Knight, were
rolled out in a public ceremony on April 18, 2003. Nearly a year later,
the SpaceShipOne has undergone extensive piloted glide tests, and now
two powered flights.


Scaled Composites has its eyes on snagging the X Prize, a high-stakes
international race to fly a reusable private vehicle to the edge of
space and return safely to Earth.


The X Prize Foundation of St. Louis, Missouri will award $10 million to
the first company or organization to launch a vehicle capable of
carrying three people to a height of 62.5 miles (100 kilometers), return
safely to Earth, and repeat the flight with the same vehicle within two
weeks.



The clock is running


For the cash prize, however, the clock is running as the $10 million
purse expires as of the end of this year.


Twenty-seven contestants representing seven countries have already
registered for the X Prize contest, modeled on the $25,000 Orteig Prize
for which Charles Lindbergh flew solo from New York to Paris in 1927.


Just yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it
had issued the world's first license for a sub-orbital manned rocket
flight.


The license was issued April 1 by the DOT's Federal Aviation
Administration (news - web sites)'s Office of Commercial Space
Transportation to Scaled Composites. This federal paperwork
green-lighted a sequence of sub-orbital flights by Scaled Composites for
a one-year period.


Safety first





The FAA sub-orbital space flight license is required for U.S. contenders
in the X Prize competition. In its 20 years of existence, the FAA's
Office of Commercial Space Transportation has licensed more than 150
commercial launches of unmanned expendable launch vehicles.

The license to Scaled Composites is the first to authorize piloted
flight on a sub-orbital trajectory, the DOT statement noted.

While the highest criteria to issue a license are public safety,
applicants must undergo an extensive pre-application process,
demonstrate adequate financial responsibility to cover any potential
losses, and meet strict environmental requirements.

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ight
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