OTD in Space – June 21: 1st Privately Funded Human Space Flight
- 10 months ago
On June 21, 2004, the first privately funded human spaceflight, launched on SpaceShipOne. [‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com]
The ship flew 62.5 miles above Earth's surface -- just a few miles above the boundary of space -- for about 3 minutes before gliding back down to Earth. Because SpaceShipOne didn't make a complete orbit around the planet, it made what's known as a suborbital flight. The experimental aircraft was designed and built by a private company called Scaled Composites, which is owned by aerospace designer Burt Rutan. SpaceShipOne was 28 feet long, about 5 feet in diameter, and had short, wide wings spanning 16 feet. One pilot and up to two passengers could fit on board. SpaceShipOne flew to space two more times that same year. In Oct. , SpaceShipOne won the 10 million dollar Ansari X Prize for being the first privately developed and reusable spacecraft to make multiple trips to space.
The ship flew 62.5 miles above Earth's surface -- just a few miles above the boundary of space -- for about 3 minutes before gliding back down to Earth. Because SpaceShipOne didn't make a complete orbit around the planet, it made what's known as a suborbital flight. The experimental aircraft was designed and built by a private company called Scaled Composites, which is owned by aerospace designer Burt Rutan. SpaceShipOne was 28 feet long, about 5 feet in diameter, and had short, wide wings spanning 16 feet. One pilot and up to two passengers could fit on board. SpaceShipOne flew to space two more times that same year. In Oct. , SpaceShipOne won the 10 million dollar Ansari X Prize for being the first privately developed and reusable spacecraft to make multiple trips to space.