SpaceShipOne completed the first of two flights needed to win the $10 million X Prize. http://www.floridatoday.com/topstories/092904xprize.htm reports:
Released from a carrier aircraft high above California's Mojave Desert, SpaceShipOne and its pilot - 63-year-old Mike Melvill - rocketed straight up toward space after the craft's engine fired about 11:10 a.m. Eastern time.
Then 35 seconds into the engine firing, the stubby winged spaceship began a scary, spinning roll, prompting gasps among a throng gathered at the Mojave Airport Civilian Flight Test Center.
SpaceShipOne rolled at least two to three dozen times before Melvill regained control of the ship, flying it to an unofficial altitude of 358,000 feet - which, if confirmed, would be high enough to qualify the mission as a legitimate X Prize flight.
The test pilot-turned-astronaut then plunged back through the atmosphere as Melvill guided the spaceship to a safe landing at 11:34 a.m. EDT on the same runway it departed about 80 minutes earlier.
"Now that was fun," Melvill said shortly after landing. "Right up at the top, I really got a surprise when it did a victory roll."
The SpaceShipOne team plans to launch its second X Prize flight next Monday.
"One down, one to go," said Peter Diamandis of the X Prize Foundation.
The Associated Press provides a less sensational report:
The first private manned rocket to reach space soared toward the edge of the atmosphere again in an unexpectedly bumpy ride today in the first half of a bid to earn a $10 million prize.
SpaceShipOne, with astronaut Michael Melvill at the controls, dropped away from its mother ship above Mojave Airport, fired its rocket and pulled into a vertical climb. The ship appeared to roll severely for a time but then steadied as it apparently reached its intended altitude. It then began a gliding descent and landed at 10:33 a.m. CDT, about an hour and a half after it left.
Official confirmation on whether SpaceShipOne reached the required altitude won't be known until later in the day.
UPDATE CNN reports that while it is not clear why the craft lost control, Pilot Mike Melvill had to shut down the engine 11 seconds before it would have cut off automatically:
"Probably, I stepped on something too quickly and caused the roll," said Melvill, who appeared to shrug off the incident. "It's nice to do a roll at the top of the climb."
According to CNN, if SpaceCraftOne's altitude is confirmed, it will also have beaten the X-15's top altitude of 354,200 feet (67 miles) set on August 22, 1963.
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