SpaceShipOne, a privately-built,
passenger-carrying suborbital space vehicle, has undergone another test flight.
On March 11, high over the
Mojave Desert in California, the craft was released from the White Knight mothership,
and then glided to a runway landing.
SpaceShipOne’s pilot was
Pete Siebold. Objectives of the unpowered glide test included a check of pilot
proficiency, as well as verifying the vehicle’s reaction control system. A key
aspect of the glide flight was to assess handling of the rocket plane now outfitted
with a thermal protection system.
According to Scaled Composites:
"All systems performed as expected and the vehicle landed successfully
while demonstrating the maximum cross wind landing capability."
Upcoming powered flight
The glide test -- involving
a shakeout of thermal protection on the ship’s airframe -- appears to be a prelude
to the second powered flight of SpaceShipOne.
SpaceShipOne’s first powered
flight, making use of a hybrid rocket motor, took place on Dec. 17, 2003. In
that test flight, the piloted rocket plane broke through the sound barrier on
the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers historic flight over
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The rocket plane’s motor
is called a "hybrid" because it is has characteristics that utilize features
from both solid and liquid rocket motors.
Privately built by Scaled
Composites of Mojave, California, the SpaceShipOne project is being led by aircraft
designer Burt Rutan, who heads the company.
Vying for X Prize
Rutan and Scaled Composites
engineers are in hot pursuit of the $10 million X Prize, a competition dedicated
to accelerate suborbital passenger flight, as well as spur orbital voyages of
private citizens in the future.
The company does not pre-announce
flights or overtly publicize what next steps are slated in flying SpaceShipOne.
Last December it was revealed
that multi-billionaire Paul Allen -- the co-founder of Microsoft -- is bankrolling
the SpaceShipOne project.
Teams from around the world
are vying for the X Prize. It will be awarded to the first team that privately
finances, builds and launches a spaceship able to carry three people to 62.5
miles (100 kilometers) altitude, return safely to Earth, then repeat the feat
within two weeks.
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