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On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne dropped from
its mother ship White Knight and flew to the edge ofspacemore
than 100 km above the Earths surface.
Unit 12ATo the Edge of Space
PrivateSpace Flight
In his workshop in the Mojave Desert, California,Burt Rutan
stands before the spaceship he designed.
Airplane designer Burt Rutan was 14 years
old when the USSR launchedSputnik 1.1Hbelieved that government
research into spa
travel would someday mean he too would b
able to journey to space. By the mid-1990s
however, Rutan had realized that waiting fo
the government wasnt going to work.
It was then that heresolvedto build his ow
spaceship. If my dream was going to come
trueof floating2weightlessin the black sk
and beingthrilledby the sight of Earth fro
outside our atmosphere3Id have to get
things started myself, said Rutan.
The Dream of Space FlightRutan was encouraged to build his
ownspaceship by the history of airplane designitself. Five years
after the Wright brothers4
first flight in 1903, the airplane was still jusa dangerous
curiosity. Only a dozenor so
people had tried flying in an airplane. Yet b1912 hundreds of
pilots had flown airplaneof different designs that were
developedthrough private enterprise.5The bad designcrashed; the
good designs flew. Soon factoriein France, England, and Germany
wereproducing hundreds, and then thousands, oairplanes a year. Why?
I believe the answerlay in two observations: Thats gotta be fuand
Maybe I can do that, says Rutan.
1Sputnik 1was the first man-made object sent into space to
circle the
earth in 1957.2Something that floatsin or through the air hangs
in it or moves slowly
and gently through it.3The Earths atmosphereis the layer of air
that surrounds it.4TheWright brothersare two Americans who built
and flew the first
powered airplane.5Private enterpriseis business activity that is
not directed or controlled
by the government.
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Unit 12Going to Extremes
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The Dream Becomes RealRutans optimism finally paid off. In 2004
his specially designed spaceship,SpaceShipOne, successfully entered
space and made it back to earth twice intwo weeks. Those were the
requirementsto win the ten-million-dollar
Ansari X Prize, a prize designed to encourage the development of
private
space travel. Rutans success got the worlds attention, and
various schemesto commercialize private space travel began to
appear.
An Incredible OpportunityIn one such scheme, Sir Richard Branson
haslicensedthe technology of SpaceShipOnefor hiscompany, Virgin
Galactic, which hopes to offerpeople of all shapes, sizes, and ages
the opportunityto visit space. Virgins first spaceships will have
twopilots and six passengers aboard. Passengers willfloat
weightless in space for six thrilling minutesas they gaze out at
space through a large window.Of all the things weve done, Branson
says,Virgin Galactic is the one Im most excitedabout. Every time I
look up in the sky at night,I think about how incredible the
opportunity is.People have been waiting for this moment
forthousands of years.
Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo, at 60 feelong (18 meters), will
be twice as long asthe original SpaceShipOne. It will carry
sipassengers and two pilots aboard.
Sir Richard Branson (left) and Burt Rutanstand in front of a
model of WhiteKnightTwthe aircraft that will carry SpaceShipTwo
othe first part of its flight. Named Eve, aftSir Richard Bransons
mother, WhiteKnighcan fly to over 15,000 meters (50,000 fee
