X1 Launch

While I couldn’t be at the Mojave SpacePort today, I’m sitting here watching the webcast of the White Knight and SpaceShipONE launch this morning.

The Canucks at The Golden Palace.com Space Program Powered by the da Vinci Project (yeah, that’s their full name) announced that it has put its October 2nd planned flight to space in pursuit of the Ansari X PRIZE on hold. Why? See above…

UPDATE 8:35 PST
Wheels down. The first civilian funded, built and piloted space craft has returned from another successful flight into space. Let’s do it again Monday and watch Mike Melville take home the ANSARI X PRIZE for Burt Rutan and Scaled Compsites!

UPDATE 8:18 PST
Sonic boom heard on the ground.

UPDATE 8:17 PST
Mike is reconfiguring for flight, wings down and locked. It’s on a smooth glide back to the spaceport at Mojave.

UPDATE 8:16 PST
Bumpy ride on the way back down… unpowered and at mach 3! But everything looks good.

UPDATE 8:13 PST
Roll has been controlled… THEY ARE AT 338,000 FEET! That’s space!

UPDATE 8:12 PST
Engine shut down after 38 74 seconds… he’s in a roll. Oh shit… but still climbing

UPDATE 8:12 PST
The candle is lit! Headed for space…

UPDATE 8:04 PST
Separation in eight minutes…

UPDATE 7:13 PST
White Knight has left the ground with SpaceShipONE tucked safely underneath. Damn this is cool…