Private space ship finally reaches space

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My RSS reader updated when I booted the machine and this was one of the articles on the top. I thought it was really cool đź‘Ť. It's nice to see a non-government venture to send people to space. This'll obviously lead to space tourism becoming more feasible but...how long do you folks think that'll take?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3713119.stm

A privately built manned spacecraft has reached a record altitude of 211,000ft (64km) over California on one of its final tests before officially entering space.

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Its 211,000ft (64km) altitude was twice as high as SpaceShipOne had been piloted to previously, and is within striking distance of the height required to claim the X-prize.

To win, that altitude - 329,000ft (100km), the official boundary of space - has to be reached twice in two-weeks by a three-man spacecraft

snip

The X-prize will mark a new era in manned spaceflight when private companies are able to make short sub-orbital hops for paying customers.

It is hoped that a market for space tourism can be developed but in reality only a very few rich passengers will be able to be carried into space by one or two companies for the foreseeable future.
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Just 2 months after this event:

SpaceShipOne broke the officially recognized barrier to space this morning. All that's left to win the X prize is to do it again within the next 2 weeks

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5261571/?GT1=3584
 
I see the designer of this plane is also the guy who designed the plane that got around the world without stopping for fuel.

This project's still in its early stages but testing seems to be going quite well.
 
This is cool stuff. I'll be more impressed when they get a person up there though.

Even though they're 50 years behind the government, it's very cool to see this kind of thing happening.
 
Originally posted by danoff
This is cool stuff. I'll be more impressed when they get a person up there though.

Even though they're 50 years behind the government, it's very cool to see this kind of thing happening.
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I don't see how they could be that far behind the government. The technology has been developed already, it's just that nobody has seriously attempted to put it to use. If anything, shouldn't they be that far ahead of the government? Their current spacecraft are over 30 years old and are terribly inefficient. Wasn't the X-32 or whatever it was called (the lifting body design, reusable launch vehicle) nixed? Aerospace technology has went up leaps and bounds over the past 50 years. I mean, it's now possible to do all sorts of designing and testing using computer technology so models don't have to be built until very late in the design phase. I'd assume that this saves craploads of time and money since physical testing doesn't have to start until they come up with something that'd work.

The organizations attempting to win the X prize are no longer sending monkeys to space as was the case 50 years ago but rather testing whether or not their designs are safe to use and if they're efficient enough to make the prize. After a private organization gets to space, people will be struggling to create cheaper and more durable spacecraft, right?
 
I don't see how they could be that far behind the government. The technology has been developed already, it's just that nobody has seriously attempted to put it to use. If anything, shouldn't they be that far ahead of the government? Their current spacecraft are over 30 years old and are terribly inefficient. Wasn't the X-32 or whatever it was called (the lifting body design, reusable launch vehicle) nixed? Aerospace technology has went up leaps and bounds over the past 50 years. I mean, it's now possible to do all sorts of designing and testing using computer technology so models don't have to be built until very late in the design phase. I'd assume that this saves craploads of time and money since physical testing doesn't have to start until they come up with something that'd work.

The organizations attempting to win the X prize are no longer sending monkeys to space as was the case 50 years ago but rather testing whether or not their designs are safe to use and if they're efficient enough to make the prize. After a private organization gets to space, people will be struggling to create cheaper and more durable spacecraft, right?
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In terms of re-usability you've got a point.

However, the article you posted was talking about this being the first amateur rocket to make it in to space, which is more than 50 years behind the first rocket to make it in to space.
 
ah, I thought you meant the first article
 
didn't want to create a new thread so I thought I'd bump this up.

the Federal Aviation Administration is nearing the final stages of certifying the Mojave Airport as the first-ever private spaceport. Both Scaled Composites and XCOR Aerospace (the two leading competitors in the X-Prize competition) currently fly out of Mojave Airport. The approval of a commercial spaceport will certainly facilitate the creation of even more private-sector space technologies.
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http://www.space.com/news/mojave_spaceport_040524.html
 
I've been hearing about this for awhile now. That's pretty cool.
 
Cool! Way to go private enterprise!

It doesn't qualify as an X-prize flight, though, because he didn't carry ballast representing passengers. But it's still a cool achievement.
 
Wow, thats cool! But, i dont think i need to see space any time soon, nor do i want to. Maby when im 70 or somthing. :)
 
HNN was live at the test site this morning where a bunch of amateur space ships were testing. That would be great to win the $10,000,000 top prize!
 
I must say that the White Knight has to be on of the coolest looking aircraft I have ever seen.
 
Just to let people know I was watching the live feed for 2 hours today and managed to catch it at 10,000 feet all the way to the landing.

Enjoyed every minute of it.
 
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