SpaceShipOne video link

ambasite

SS1 Flight 15P

Scruff

class. rocket burn looked impressive, as did the m&m's flying around the place. pity the resolution was so lo though, couldnt really make out what the view out the windows was like.

ambasite

m&m's! was trying to figure out what the hell they were, talk about product placement!

halenger

Nice... I'm waiting for me free invite.

LastIrishMonkey

Just wondering did u lot see the seats in the back there was 2 more i wonder why no one else went up with him ? or why they were ever put in the vesiel ?

ambasite

To claim the X-Prize, ship must take three people in to orbit.

X-Prize runs 'may have to wait'

halenger

Originally posted by LastIrishMonkey
Just wondering did u lot see the seats in the back there was 2 more i wonder why no one else went up with him ?

yeah more people will be in it later but on test flights they're not gonna risk 3 people in case anything goes wrong. Wouldn't exactly help the test pilot much. He has more to worry about and more to concentrate on while testing than having to hear other people in the cabin chattering, commenting, suggesting etc. (for now anyhow)

RicardoSmith

He can take the weight of three people instead of actual people I think.

SpaceJunkie

For the flight to qualify, it must be privately built and funded, must be able to carry 3 people (Pilot + two passengers) to prove its financial feasibility, be able to repeat the task within 2 weeks to show its reuseability and reach the required altitude.

For the "carry 3 people" part of the two test flights, the equivalent weight can be substituted (for the two passengers) which I believe is 198 lbs for each "passenger" or roughly 400 lbs of ballast weight.

Personally, I think this is one of the most significant events in human flight. I have been lucky enough to see this and the Lunar Landing Mission! Wow!

RicardoSmith

SpaceJunkie wrote:

...
Personally, I think this is one of the most significant events in human flight. I have been lucky enough to see this and the Lunar Landing Mission! Wow!

Same here.

Did you mean see "over the web" or "TV" or were you actually there? As in florida and in the desert etc.

SpaceJunkie

Actually, both X-Prize flights took place in the Mojave Desert in California about 150 miles from where I live. But, no, I was not able to go there and see it in person. I watched it on the web. There are some great vids of both flights being hosted on Space.com which covered them from dawn to touchdown.

If you would like to see them, they can be found here:

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/xprize2_success_041004.html

There should be a "Watch The Video" pane on the right side.

The Lunar Landing Mission (Apollo 11) I watched "live" on TV as it happened. I was 3 months shy of my 18th birthday when the mission landed on the moon. Fortunately, it was summer and I was on summer break from school.