Testing of a privately financed spaceship has moved into the air -- a step toward cashing in on a $10 million purse for building passenger-carrying suborbital rocketry.

SpaceShipOne has been hauled skyward, carried by the White Knight -- a twin jet plane built to carry the rocket plane to altitude for launch.

The reusable winged rocket and its mother ship are products of aerospace designer, Burt Rutan, head of Scaled Composites, based in Mojave, California.

The first captive carry flight moves the project closer to future test glides, eventually leading to a suborbital hop to the edge of Earth's atmosphere.

"Our flight safety approach of 'question, never defend' has allowed us to take courageous steps by safely flying new ideas and new performance envelopes," Rutan said at rollout ceremonies.

Rutan said that, in looking toward the future, hopefully within ten years, ordinary people, for the cost of a luxury cruise, might be able experience a rocket flight into the black sky above the earth's atmosphere. In doing so, they can enjoy a few minutes of weightless excitement, "then feel the thunderous deceleration of the aerodynamic drag on entry."

Officials at Scaled Composites report that the first captive carry flight with a piloted White Knight and non-pilot carrying SpaceShipOne took place May 20, lasting nearly two hours.

One major purpose of the flight was to determine two-ship stability and control. Handling of the combined vehicles proved excellent, clearing the way for future piloted captive carry and glide flights of SpaceShipOne.

Next flight of the mated vehicles is likely to be a piloted captive carry in which all SpaceShipOne systems -- except rocket propulsion -- will be tested at altitudes up to 50,000 feet. If successful, glide flights will soon follow.

Rutan has been eyeing private rocketship concepts dating back to April 1996. Design work and some limited testing was started over three years ago. The full development program began in May of 2001.

The goal of what Rutan tags as his "Tier One" program is to rocket a crew upwards to 62 miles (100 kilometers) This altitude was established by the X Prize Foundation as a target to stimulate commercial interest in the technology to foster passenger space travel.

A $10 million X Prize cash purse will be awarded to the first team to make the suborbital trek before January 1, 2005, when the offer -- in the form of an insurance policy -- expires. The rules call for any team vying for the prize must loft three people to the stipulated altitude, return them safely to Earth, and then repeat that feat with the same vehicle within two weeks.

Rutan is not alone in seeking the X Prize. Teams from seven nations are working hard to win.

Part of SpaceShipOne's airworthiness campaign is certifying for flight the vehicle's "hybrid" rocket motor. It is called a hybrid because it is has characteristics that utilize features from both solid and liquid rocket motors.

Two competing, independent rocket companies -- Environmental Aeroscience Corporation (eAc) of Miami, Florida, and SpaceDev of Poway, California -- are developing and testing the rocket motor and related hardware.

An extensive ground evaluation program is underway to ready SpaceShipOne for trial runs prior to any attempt at snagging the X Prize money.

Tests are slated or already underway to qualify the ship for glide testing, such as cabin pressure proof tests, some control system proof tests, additional landing gear functional tests and ground vibration testing.

"I strongly feel that, if we are successful, our program will mark the beginning of a renaissance for manned space flight," Rutan said at the unveiling of SpaceShipOne and the White Knight air carrier. "This might even be similar to that wonderful time period between 1908 and 1912 when the world went from a total of ten airplane pilots to hundreds of airplane types and thousands of pilots in 39 countries."

Filing a flight plan for SpaceShipOne reads like this:

The three-place spaceship is initially attached to the turbojet launch aircraft. The White Knight cruises for an hour flying to 50,000 feet. That's above 85% of Earth's atmosphere.

SpaceShipOne is then dropped into gliding flight and fires its hybrid rocket motor. The craft climbs steeply for more than a minute, reaching a speed of 2,500 mph. The ship coasts up to X Prize altitude, then falls back into the atmosphere. The coast and fall are under microgravity conditions that last more than three minutes.

During weightless flight, the spaceship converts to a high-drag configuration -- done by flipping up the rudder/tail end of the craft -- to allow a safe, stable atmospheric entry.

After the entry deceleration which takes more than a minute, the ship converts back to a conventional glider, allowing a leisurely 17 minute glide from 80,000 feet altitude down to a runway where a landing is made at light-plane speeds.

"This milestone will be significant in that it will represent the making of the first non-government astronaut, and it will be flown on a system that shows the level of affordability needed for future space tourism," Rutan said.

Affordable space travel is needed to inspire youth, Rutan added, "to let them know that they can experience their dreams, can set significant goals and be in a position to lead all of us to future progress in exploration, discovery and fun."