SpaceShipOne

Presented by:

VP & General Manager – Scaled Composites

Astronaut

Abstract:

On 21 June 2004, Michael Melvill became the first American to fly a privately-funded aircraft mission into space. A veteran test pilot, Melvill flew SpaceShipOne at Mach 3 beyond the earth’s atmosphere (flight 15P), and did so again in September when he made the first of two Ansari X Prize qualifying flights above the 100 km Karman Line. In his luncheon keynote Mike will share with us the exciting story of this history making event. But to understand its implications, it may first be helpful to understand its context.

On 7 October 1958, with funding from the U.S. government, Project Mercury brought together the resources of government, industry, and the military services with the objective of placing a man in space and recovering both the man and the spacecraft safely. The names of those test pilots selected to become Project Mercury astronauts announced in May 1959 have become legend: From the Marine Corps, Lt. Col. John Herschel Glenn, Jr.; from the Navy, Lt. Cdr. Walter Marty Schirra, Jr., Lt. Cdr. Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., and Lt. Malcolm Scott Carpenter; from the Air Force Captains Donald Kent Slayton, Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr., and Virgil I. Grissom. On 5 May 1961, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. became the first American in space.

“We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people.” -- John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962

America’s space program became a driver for many new technologies, some of which changed the economic landscape of this country and put America at the forefront of modern society. Innovations in microchips and the semiconductor industry led to advances in computers and software which then enabled such society-changing products as the internet, cell phones, and medical imaging devices. America led the way, but it was expensive. It took the resources of an entire country to achieve and sustain man’s dream of going into space, and even then it was the privilege of a limited few. The dream of spawning a new era in the multi-billion dollar commercial airplane industry by reaching space economically and perhaps primarily through aerodynamic flight remained just that … a dream.

So in 1995 Peter H. Diamandis established the X Prize Foundation to fund a cash prize incentive. It was hoped that this competition, like that which was won by Lindbergh in the Spirit of St. Louis, would spur some of the brightest and best among us to show what the engineering spirit is capable of, and once again lead the way to innovations for the benefit of all society.

What kind of vision, dedication, and resources would it take to conceive, design, build, and fly a non-governmental mission into space? What kind of entrepreneurs would accept such a challenge? Could a few engineers with limited resources even take on such a grand venture, and succeed? On May 18th 1996 at a gala black-tie event held at the St. Louis Science Center, the drama began. Burt Rutan, famous for his design of the record breaking Voyager, (the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling) and founder of Scaled Composites, announced his company’s intent to compete. Other teams from around the world soon followed.

Eight years and roughly $20 million later, financial supporter Paul G. Allen, along with Burt Rutan and the Tier One team, captured the $10 million Ansari X Prize.¹ The flights were considered so successful, and so “relatively” cost effective, that plans have been made by a commercial aircraft company (Virgin Galactic) to fly civilian tourists into space as early as 2008 aboard a follow-on aircraft designated as SpaceShipTwo. Like the developments which resulted from flights by the Wright Brothers and the Project Mercury astronauts², it is impossible to predict the full impact that the flight of SpaceShipOne will have. However, it demonstrates once again that engineering can and will always aid the human spirit in “Innovating for Society.”

_______________________________________________________________________

¹ In May 2004, the X PRIZE was officially re-named the ANSARI X PRIZE to reflect a generous donation from the Ansari family.)

² From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia:

A military Astronaut must complete all required training to receive the Astronaut badge, as well as participate in a space flight more than 50 miles above the Earth. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale defines spaceflight as over 100 km. This definition is followed by all countries except the U.S., which maintains the space boundary at 50 miles (~ 80 km).

Only ten pilots have qualified for the Astronaut Badge by flying an airplane into space: eight from the U.S. Air Force/NASA X-15 program, plus Brian Binnie and Mike Melvill from the Scaled Composites Tier One project. All other persons have been awarded the Astronaut Badge by traveling into space on rocket boosters, rather than in aerodynamic flight.