Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites plans to attempt the first non-government spaceflight on 26 June with a suborbital flight of its privately funded SpaceShipOne to an altitude of 330,000ft (100,000m). If the flight is successful, Scaled plans a bid to win the $10 million Ansari X-Prize, which requires two flights within two weeks with the same three-seat vehicle.
The announcement follows SpaceShipOne's third powered flight, on 13 May, in which it reached 211,400ft. On that flight, the vehicle's hybrid rocket motor burned for 55s, boosting the vehicle from an air launch at 46,000ft and 120kt (220km/h) to 150,000ft and Mach 2.5, after which it coasted to apogee then glided back to a runway landing at Mojave, California.
For the spaceflight attempt, SpaceShipOne will be released by the White Knight mother ship at about 50,000ft and will fire its rocket for 80s, boosting the vehicle to M3 in a vertical climb. After coasting to 100km, the solo pilot will turn using reaction controls, "feather" the wing and tail for re-entry, then reconfigure the vehicle for the 15-20min glide to a runway landing at Mojave.
Scaled's programme, which is funded solely by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has not been without incident. SpaceShipOne's left main gear collapsed at the end of the first powered flight on 17 December, and the avionics had to be rebooted during the most recent flight.
Source: Flight International
