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SpaceShipOne

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SpaceShipOne
SpaceShipOne after its flight into space, June 21, 2004.
Role Spaceplane
Manufacturer Scaled Composites
Designer Burt Rutan
First flight 20 May 2003 (2003-05-20)
Retired 4 October 2004 (2004-10-04)
Primary user Mojave Aerospace Ventures
Number built 1
Developed into SpaceShipTwo
Career
Preserved at National Air and Space Museum

SpaceShipOne is a vehicle built to travel to the lower limits of outer space. It completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and has not flown since winning. It was carried high into the air by a specially designed plane named "White Knight". Both vehicles were built and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures. This was a joint project between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's flying machine company. Allen provided the money to build and fly SpaceShipOne, about US$25 million.

Rutan has said that ideas about the project began as early as 1994. The full-time work towards the 2004 accomplishments took about three years. The vehicle first flew faster than the speed of sound on December 17, 2003. This date was also the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers' historic first powered flight. SpaceShipOne's first official spaceflight, was piloted by Mike Melvill. A few days before that flight, the Mojave Air and Space Port was the first commercial spaceport licensed in the United States. A few hours after that flight, Melvill became the first licensed U.S. commercial astronaut. The overall project name was "Tier One". It has evolved into Tier 1b with a goal of taking a new, but similar ship's first paying passengers into space within the next few years.