One Flight Down, One To Go for SpaceShipOne

Brushing off a surprising series of rolls, SpaceShipOne (SS1) pilot Mike Melvill took the private craft, funded by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) billionaire Paul Allen, to the edge of space and back this morning. It was the first of two flights the team needs to claim the coveted Ansari X Prize.

The team, headed by aviation ace Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites, had tested its flights to space twice earlier this year. Now it has the task of repeating today's flight within two weeks to win the $10 million X Prize.

Space industry observers have called the prize a successful spur to private space endeavors. Other teams are still pursuing the prize -- for the purposes of innovation as much as for money.

More evidence of the X Prize's success came as the Virgin Group this week announced a $21.5 million licensing deal with Allen's Mojave Aerospace Ventures to produce reusable SS1 vehicles for private space travel.

Roll with It

In the flight to the edge of space -- 100 kilometers or 62 miles, the goal required by the X Prize -- the missile-shaped, winged SS1 craft was first lofted into the sky by a companion craft, then split off and fired its own engine at an altitude of about 50,000 feet.

During the ascent [*correction] the craft rolled several times, causing concern on the ground. Once Melvill made some adjustments, however, he was able to bring the craft true for a successful flight and textbook landing.

When asked about the rolling, Melvill blamed his own error as the likely culprit. Control of the vehicle requires hand, feet, eye and overall physical coordination, and he might have pushed too hard on a pedal, Melvill said.

"I think it looks good if you can roll at the top of the climb," he joked at a press conference.

Testing To Win

Jeff Foust, editor of the Space Review, said the eight-year-old X Prize has illustrated that the private sector can develop vehicles that can carry people into space for relatively affordable costs.

"It has the potential to open a whole new and profitable market for the space industry," Foust told TechNewsWorld.

However, Foust, who watched the SS1 flight in the Mojave Desert, said the rolling issues this week and similar bugs with earlier missions show how new the technology really is.

"As shown today, these are still new vehicles with the potential for significant problems that have to be worked out," Foust said. "They'll need some more test flights before they're ready to carry passengers."

While another team, The da Vinci Project of Canada, had planned a run at the X Prize to coincide with SS1's flight schedule, the team suffered a delay from component fabrication problems, Foust said.

The SS1 team will claim the $10 million if it can repeat today's flight within two weeks.

Birth of an Industry?

Foust called the Virgin Galactic deal -- whereby the SS1 craft and technology will be licensed for the creation of spacecraft intended for civilian tourists -- a giant step forward for the space industry.

"This is a great endorsement of the suborbital space tourism industry," Foust told TechNewsWorld. "And it may compel other people to make similar deals for SpaceShipOne-derived or other vehicles."

Virgin chief Sir Richard Branson, Rutan and Allen all agreed the Virgin Galactic-SS1 deal would lay the groundwork for similar deals.

"Today's deal with Virgin represents the next stage in the evolution of the SpaceShipOne concept, and will likely be the first of a number of deals that will utilize the technology developed during its creation," Allen said in a statement.

*Correction: When first published, this article incorrectly stated that the rolls occurred on descent.