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[Ripclawe]

All the cable stations have it, waiting for liftoff.

take about an hour for it to go up 50,000 feet before launching the rocket.

 

[sprsk]

white knight is the COOLEST name for a plane. also its one of the coolest looking planes ive ever seen.

heres a web stream http://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_wfaa

 

[sprsk]

heres msnbcs stream
http://mfile.akamai.com/8824/live/reflector:20166.asx?bkup=20168

 

[Tenguman]

Here's hoping after the space flight that aliens passing through come down to earth and give congrads for the first private space flight.

 

[FnordChan]

Update from space.com:

"10:51 a.m. ET: SpaceShipOne has been dropped from its mothership, the White Knight. Pilot Mike Melvill fired the rockets and SpaceShipOne is now rocketing toward space. Goal: 62 miles (100 kilometers) up, where Melvill will earn his astronaut wings. Under the rising Sun the rocket firing was visible to the thousands of shouting, whooping enthralled spectators."

Go, Mike, go!

FnordChan

 

[sprsk]

were only a couple steps closer to having power rangers.

 

[Tortfeasor]

Warning - The MSNBC stream really really sucks!!!

 

[Lemonz]

Just blasted it's rockets. It's heading to space.

 

[heavy liquid]

GO! GO! GO!

 

[FnordChan]

Victory!

"11:02 a.m. ET: Mike Melvill and his SpaceShipOne have made it into space. Everything looks good, mission official said, and the craft is now gliding back toward a landing at the Mojave Airport, where it took off earlier this morning. "I got goose bumps when I saw contrails," Greg Klerkx, author of Lost in Space: The Fall of NASA and the Dream of a New Space Age. "I never thought I'd see this moment, but here it is.""

FnordChan

 

[Phoenix]

She's on her descent now. Some circuits blew on the way up and at some point it apparently shut itself down instead of being shut down by the pilot. They aren't saying how high she went but its believed that they made it.

 

[Phoenix]

On final approach... there were a few bangs on the way down but the chase planes say she's fine.

 

[Phoenix]

And she is down safe and sound.

 

[sprsk]

thats so cool.

 

[Phoenix]

Now all they need to do is come up with a way to get from mach 2.5 to mach 25 so they can get into orbit, something Rutan tells CNN he wants to do.

 

[StrikerObi]

Shit I forgot about this (and was asleep). Oh well, at least I'll see the post landing stuff.

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!

 

[iapetus]

Cool.

Although the next step isn't Mach 25 - it's passengers. Time to win the X Prize...

 

[Doth Togo]

This is exciting. I liked watching the MSNBC feed.

 

[Phoenix]

Cool.

Although the next step isn't Mach 25 - it's passengers. Time to win the X Prize...

Just quoting Rutan. He isn't really all that concerned about commercialization - he wants to inspire others in that regard and move on to orbital flight.

 

[Justin Bailey]

Here's a 40-pic slideshow:

http://www.rokits.org/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=x-prize

Thank God we finally have some good news in the world today.

 

[BuddyC]

that's awesome!

 

[bjork]

Cool.

Although the next step isn't Mach 25 - it's passengers.

Lance Bass is willing to go.

 

[FnordChan]

Here's a 40-pic slideshow:

http://www.rokits.org/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=x-prize

Fantastic stuff. Thanks for the link!

FnordChanOne

 

[bjork]

I didn't know this was happening so close to my house, I could've gone out to see it.

Ah well. That slideshow rules. :thumbsup:

 

[lexbubble]

oh wow..thanks for the slideshow. i love anything to do with planes/shapeships and needless to say was glued to Fox News coverage of this once I woke up this morning =)

 

[Lucky Forward]

Cool shot!

 

[Doth Togo]

Cool shot!

Awesome. News like this should be covered more often.

Enough with the beheadings already...

 

[Guzim]

Mike Melvill is the man.

 

[GigaDrive]

So incredibly AWESOME. made my day to see this. ^__^

 

[heavy liquid]

Here's hoping after the space flight that aliens passing through come down to earth and give congrads for the first private space flight.

Your wish came true! Here's a pic of one of them at the landing site:

 

[DJ Demon J]

Your wish came true! Here's a pic of one of them at the landing site:

Wow! Here's hoping all aliens have big tits like that--it would be a Star Trek geek's dream come true.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

great stuff

 

[BigJonsson]

Now they need to achieve warp speed!

 

[Lucky Forward]

Private Spaceship Encounters Glitches In Record-Setting Flight

http://space.com/missionlaunches/SS1_press_040621.html

Upon touchdown and climbing out of the SpaceShipOne’s cockpit, Melvill was greeted by Apollo moonwalker, Buzz Aldrin.

"It meant a lot," Melvill said. "To have him come up and shake my hand and congratulate me and tell me that I’ve joined the club…that was serious stuff."