There are 23 other registered groups from seven
countries competing for the $10 million cash prize. There are teams from Russia,
United Kingdom, Romania, Israel, Argentina and two from Canada. The rest are
headquartered in the U.S.
Diamandis said the goal of X Prize is to promote
commercial human spaceflight, just as prizes offered early in the 20th century
jump-started the aviation industry. For instance, Charles Lindbergh made the
first solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 while competing for a $25,000
aviation prize, he said.
Lindbergh's flight, said Diamandis, ``was a mind-shift
breakthrough'' for the public. Within 18 months after that daring flight, the
number of people boarding airlines rose from 5,700 a year to almost 200,000.
Demonstrating that private companies can build
and fly spacecraft can be a major step toward making human spaceflight as routine
flying on an airliner is now, he said.
``The flood gates will open when a group of private
people can plan on going some place in space,'' said Diamandis. He said earlier
prizes opened ``the golden age of aviation'' and with private firms racing to
reach space ``it's happening again, right now.''
The X Prize contest calls for launching a manned
craft to 62 miles, generally considered the cusp of space, and returning it
safely to Earth. And then doing it again within 14 days. The craft must be able
to carry three people, although the contest rules permit contestants to use
one pilot accompanied by equipment equal to the weight of two people.
Diamandis said the craft will not go into orbit
and will not fly far from its launch site. But it will graze space, giving an
orbit-like view of the Earth and perhaps brief moments of weightlessness. The
whole adventure would probably last about 15 minutes.
Yet, Diamandis said market surveys suggest that
there are about 10,000 Americans who would spend up to $100,000 for such a space
adventure.
``Think of it as barnstorming'' but with a $1 billion
market, he said, referring to the 1920s practice of freelance pilots who charged
a fee for airplane rides.
Asked about the risk involved, Diamandis didn't
pull punches in his talk to FAA officials.
``People may die,'' he said. ``This is dangerous
stuff.''
But Diamandis argues that taking such risks is
a basic human right that the government should honor.
``They should have the right to risk their own
lives for something they believe in,'' he told government executives whose jobs
include aviation safety. American was settled by pioneers who chose to risk
all for new land or to explore the unknown, he said, and without such a spirit
humans will always be Earthbound.
``We are living in a risk-averse society and giving
birth to the space travel industry is very difficult under those circumstances,''
said Diamandis.
The X Prize is financed by private donors. The
list of supporters includes Dennis Tito, an American who spent $20 million to
fly on a Russian craft as history's first space tourist, Erik Lindbergh, a pilot
and grandson of Charles Lindbergh, former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn,
and movie actor Tom Hanks.
First USA Bank donated $1 million, as did the New
Spirit of St. Louis Organization, a descendent of the group that sponsored the
trans-Atlantic flight by Charles Lindbergh in 1927.
Editor's Note: In
the original version of this story, the Associated Press reported erroneously
that the Federal Aviation Administration had approved a Mojave Desert airport
as a launch site for suborbital manned space missions and that the agency had
approved applications from two teams of rocket engineers. FAA officials said
that although applications have been filed and are being considered, formal
approvals have yet to be issued for either the airport or the rocket teams.
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