"The first non-governmental rocket ship flew to the edge of space today and was piloted to a safe landing on a desert airport runway here.
Civilian test pilot, now turned astronaut Mike Melvill brought SpaceShipOne down to the Mojave Airport tarmac after flying to 100 kilometers (62 miles) in altitude, leaving the Earths atmosphere during his history-making sub-orbital space ride."
Editor's Note: A big win for the privatization of space!
Posted by jburk at June 21, 2026 12:44 PM | TrackBackWe have all discussed that half way to no where is still only half way. The achieved goal though it has take 40 years is comparable to that to which started the US in the early stage of its own upward direction into space. It is a great first step but step 2 must follow and be of even greater success than its predecessor if this is to carry the momentum of privatization of space into the distant future.
Posted by: Harold LaValley at June 22, 2026 04:33 AMFor those that heard of the damage to SpaceShipOne here is a link to pictures of it. It appears that it happened due to the engine firing with greater force than that to which had been expect. Does not look to hard to solve by the next flight this fall.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/bigpic.jsp?photoid=20040621CARS114.jpg&this;=2&searchpage;=photosearch.jsp∩=SpaceShipOne&w;=ap+or+reuters&max;=8&first;=32&fs;=
For those that heard of the damage to SpaceShipOne here is a link to pictures of it. It appears that it happened due to the engine firing with greater force than that to which had been expect. Does not look to hard to solve by the next flight this fall.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/bigpic.jsp?photoid=20040621CARS114.jpg&this;=2&searchpage;=photosearch.jsp∩=SpaceShipOne&w;=ap+or+reuters&max;=8&first;=32&fs;=
