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Astronomy: Commercial Spaceflight
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How would it be to go into space? Most people can only dream of it, unless you are trained to be an astronaut and are lucky enough to be selected for a mission. But, our possiblities enlarge to escape Earth's atmosphere as the first steps to commercial space flight are taken. SpaceShipOne climbs into space to an altitude of 100 kilometers above the surface (60 miles, comparable to the Mercury missions of Nasa) for a price of 10 million US dollars. The spacecraft can carry up to three people on short sub-orbital flights. Unlike more conventional rocket flights to space, SpaceShipOne will first be carried to an altitude of 50,000 feet by the twin turbojet White Knight and then released before igniting its own hybrid solid fuel rocket engine. After the climb to space, the spacecraft will convert to a stable configuration for re-entry, ultimately landing like a conventional glider at light plane speeds. SpaceShipOne was designed and built by cutting-edge aeronautical engineer Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites. Related subject>> Official internetsite of Scaled Composites |
 SpaceShipOne at a testflight in 2003, carried by White Knight |
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