A fifth glide flight of the privately built SpaceShipOne took place on November 14 at a Mojave, California test site. For the first time, pilot Pete Siebold put the space plane through its paces. Previous drop tests of the vehicle had Mike Melvill at the controls.
SpaceShipOne has been designed and built by Scaled Composites of Mojave, California. Several changes have been made to the craft, based on stability and handling glitches that were uncovered in an earlier drop test. Along with checkout of a new pilot, new extended horizontal tails on SpaceShipOne were also evaluated.
SpaceShipOne was released from the White Knight carrier plane at 47,300 feet.
According to Scaled Composites, SpaceShipOne's control characteristics were found to be good. The drop test flight also involved the vehicle's tail section that moved in and out of a "feathered" position - shifted to a 65-degree angle to the main body. Handling qualities of the rocket plane remained excellent with good nose pointing ability during feathering of the tail section, a test report explains.
Siebold steered SpaceShipOne to a touchdown at a targeted runway aim-point.
Major milestone to come
Aircraft designer and builder, Burt Rutan, head of Scaled Composites, along with his team, are leading the effort to construct and fly the passenger-carrying SpaceShipOne suborbital craft.
Tests are carried out over the desert in Mojave, California. The previous high-altitude drops of SpaceShipOne: August 7, August 27, September 23, October 17, and now the November 14 test. All flights were done in 2003.
The progression of ground and airborne tests is leading to a major milestone: an in-the-air ignition of the craft's propulsion system, a hybrid rocket motor.
Ultimately, SpaceShipOne is to nose its way to the edge of space in a competitive bid to snag the $10 million X Prize. Rocket teams around the globe are eyeing the X Prize purse and are building varying types of suborbital, passenger-carrying vehicles.
advertisement
