- published: 03 Dec 2009
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SpaceShipOne is a suborbital air-launched spaceplane that completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mothership was named "White Knight". Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company. Allen provided the funding of approximately US$25 million.
Rutan has indicated that ideas about the project began as early as 1994 and the full-time development cycle time to the 2004 accomplishments was about three years. The vehicle first achieved supersonic flight on December 17, 2003, which was also the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic first powered flight. SpaceShipOne's first official spaceflight, known as flight 15P, was piloted by Mike Melvill. A few days before that flight, the Mojave Air and Space Port was licensed as the USA's first commercial spaceport. A few hours after that flight, Melvill became the first licensed U.S. commercial astronaut. The overall project name was "Tier One" which has evolved into Tier 1b with a goal of taking a successor ship's first passengers into space within the next few years.
SpaceShip One X-Prize Flight #1 Launch Mike Melvill
2004 Sep 29: SpaceShipOne X-PRIZE Flight 1 -- Highlights
Spaceshipone flight
SpaceShipOne - Flight 2
Paul Gilbert - Space Ship One
paul gilbert-spaceship one
2004 Oct 4: SpaceShipOne X-PRIZE Flight 2 -- Highlights
SpaceShipOne
Space Ship One - Paul Gilbert [Full Album] (2005)
Virgin Galactic Spaceship Burns & Crash In Mojave Desert - Astronaut Killed
Tribute to Orbiter and SpaceshipOne
Wild Ride Onboard SpaceShipOne
SpaceShipOne's "Feathered Configuration"
SpaceShip1 First space flight