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[NatureDevil]

Today was the day the SpaceShipOne flew above the Earths atmosphere at just over 62 miles high, the first ever civilian astronaut. Here is the pilot, Mike Melvill, looking happy as ****.



The ship touched down at Mojave Airport to applause and cheers at 10:15 a.m. (our time) and made a bunch of headlines, which is where I am getting my info from.



What I thought was cool was his M&M experience, where he opened up a bag in front of him to watch them float around. As he described it "It was so cool" which sounds about right.

Federal Aviation Administration representative Patricia Grace Smith presented Melvill with the agency's first commercial astronaut wings.

SpaceShipOne and the exotic White Knight airplane that carried it high into the atmosphere were built by Scaled Composites, the company of innovative aircraft designer Burt Rutan. The project was funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who would only describe the cost as being in excess of $20 million.



Someday.......

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

That is an excellent sub-orbital civilian mission. I hope they show video of it. What ever happened to Buzz Aldren's private rocket company? His lifted off the ground with rocket propulsion.

I remember as a kid looking at artists conceptions of sub-orbital passenger crafts that Pan-Am would fly. I think even in "2001 - A Space Odyssey" it was Pan-AM that shuttled people to the space station. And today they are no-longer.

Today begins a new area, but what is this business about the FAA presenting the pilot with wings? Does this mean they had these ready made, just waiting to pin them? I would like to see one. Also, it kinda implies that the FAA is now the monitoring agency for civilian spaceflight and officiating missions? I knew some entitiy would be involved with this.

But regardless, excellent job and thanks Brian for posting the news.

[stargazer]

I would like to know when did the FAA make the wings. Did they know for sure he was going to do it. I hope this new plane really works but the biggest question I have is-IF this works for the public to ride into Space what will the cost be and how long will they be up there. If I could go into Space I would take my camera or a spoting scope that was able to take pics and shoot a bunch of rolls. As there would be no light pollution, nothing to interfere with the atmosphere. It would be so cool to go and see up close what we down here on Earth enjy every night we can.

Becky