Private spacecraft performs crucial test flight
A futuristic looking spacecraft has taken a crucial step towards becoming the first privately funded mission to carry a crew into space by completing its first solo test flight.
SpaceShipOne is carried into the air attached to an even more exotic-looking twin turbojet airplane, called White Knight. In the test flight, the smaller craft was detached from its mother ship 14,300 metres above the Mohave Desert, while travelling at 194 kilometres per hour. SS1 glided back without power to an air base in the desert, where its pilot made a safe landing.
Scaled Composites, the Californian company behind the spacecraft, says SS1 performed precisely as expected during the test. The test pilot had previously only practised flying the craft using a ground-based simulator.
According to a flight report, "an initial handling qualities evaluation was very positive and supported close correlation to the vehicle simulator".
Return flight
Scaled Composites is among a handful of companies hoping to capture the $10m X-Prize by performing two passenger flights to an altitude of 100 kilometres within two weeks.
The company's lightweight composite entrant was revealed on 18 April and the first test flight of both SS1 and White Knight was performed on 20 May. The latest test, carried out on Thursday and announced on Saturday, was the first solo flight for the craft that will actually carry the crew into space.
The flight plan to reach space begins with SSI being carried to about 15,000 metres altitude. It then detaches from the carrier craft and uses a hybrid rocket engine to blast up to 100 kilometres. The crew of up to three should experience weightlessness for about three minutes, before falling back through the Earth's atmosphere.
At this point SS1's rotating wings will swivel upwards, enabling it to descend through the Earth's atmosphere with its belly facing forwards. This will increase drag and reduce the g-forces that the crew will experience to a relatively comfortable five. The wings will return to their normal configuration to allow the plane to glide back to the ground.
Scaled Composites was founded by the respected aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan, best known for designing high altitude, long distance aircraft. The company has not revealed the cost of developing the vehicle, but it is thought to exceed the money associated with the prize.
Rutan has admitted that the long-term goal is to develop a commercially-viable space tourist industry. He has not said when SS1 will attempt its first space flight
