SpaceShipOne made it!

[Atrocities]

Lets all forum our own company and fly into space and get the prize.

[Wardad]

Originally posted by Intimidator:

...And indeed very cool looking vehicle, Oh man I am certain that the pilot had a " Better than SEX experience "

Inti,

NOT POSSIBLE!!!

[EvilGenius4ABetterTomorro]

The pilot is 62 years old. Don't know if he said it was better than sex but he did say it was a religious experience. People say you never want to get behind an old man with a hat while driving, but at Mach 3.2 this old man burns rubber. Literally that's what the rocket motor burns. Rubber and liquid nitrous oxide.


Nasa surveillance telescopes did show the pilot left his turn signal on for the past 100 miles.

[David E. Gervais]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
I thought the X prize also required that it be 3 people. And I was surprised to hear that there are 26? other civilian companys competing for it.

Yup, you're right. I forgot about the 3 person payload requirement for the x-prize. Thanks for reminding me. But it shouldn't be long now.

Oh, and I really think the SpaceShipOne will be the winner. but some other might swoop in with an old traditional capsule on a rocket design and grab it.

SpaceShipOne is by far the best looking of the x-prize contenders.

Cheers!

[Randallw]

Originally posted by Intimidator:
Oh man I am certain that the pilot had a " Better than SEX experience "

Inti,

Ah, but was it a better than SEIV experience.

Edit: I just looked at a list of the other contenders and I must say they seem a bit primitive. Sure they might get into orbit, but most of them plan to parachute down again. One even launches from a balloon. I realise the actual prize isn't going to pay for development, so they mostly seem to be just an attempt to grab fame by getting in first and winning.

[ June 22, 2004, 11:29: Message edited by: Randallw ]

[dogscoff]

I hope this doesn't cause any of the other contenders to cut corners and do anything stupid in a hasty attempt to beat the SS1 team to the prize.

Many lives were lost in the early days of aviation and land-speed record breakers due to similar competitive urges...

[Raging Deadstar]

That is a scary thought...

[Will]

I thought to get the X-Prize, all a team had to do was have a manned vehicle *capable* of launching three people into orbit twice within a 2-week period. i.e., there needs to be three seats, and the weight equal to three persons added in, but not necessarily three people. To be manned, the vehicle needs at least the pilot, but the two passengers aren't a strict requirement (at least from what I interpreted). So, a pilot with two crash-dummies in the passenger seats (I think) would qualify.

[geoschmo]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/0...est/index.html

Peter Diamandis, co-founder of the X Prize, the $10 million award intended to spur civilian spaceflight, said Rutan's vision would open the door for those with the same dream.

"This is a warm-up for the Ansari X Prize, but it's a historic moment for all Americans," he said. "[I've heard], 'If God wanted us to fly into space, he would have given us more money'. Hopefully, the technology demonstrated here today will lead to designs that are cheaper and easier."

Rutan said SpaceShipOne would compete for the X Prize once the causes behind the anomalies had been resolved.

"We will be looking at all our data," he said. "We'll make a decision next few days."

After that, preparations for an official X Prize flight are finalized will take 60 days.

[geoschmo]

And from the official X-Prize rules:

3. The flight vehicle must be flown twice within a 14-day period. Each flight must carry at least one person, to minimum altitude of 100 km (62 miles). The flight vehicle must be built with the capacity (weight and volume) to carry a minimum of 3 adults of height 188 cm (6 feet 2 inches) and weight 90 kg (198 pounds) each. Three people of this size or larger must be able to enter, occupy, and be fastened into the flight vehicle on Earth's surface prior to take-off, and equivalent balLast must be carried in-flight if the number of persons on-board during flight is less than 3 persons.

http://www.xprize.org/teams/guidelines.html

So, no, they don't have to have three people onboard, only be capable of flying with three people, and no, this flight won't count as one of the two flights needed for the X-Prize.