SpaceShipOne reached 100 km this morning

[marcus]

the Rutan space(?) craft SpaceShipOne

reached about 62 miles this morning and glided down
for a safe landing

there were no passengers, only the pilot

here's a recent bulletin from the Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm20366_20040621.htm

 

[selfAdjoint]

Why the question mark after space? Sure it wans't orbital, but 100 km was the definition of space in the contest. If they can colect the prize (10 million ?) they can do more.

 

[shrumeo]

does NASA need to be taking notes here?

 

[russ_watters]

does NASA need to be taking notes here?

NASA is taking notes, but while interesting stuff, its a long way from useful except as a joyride for the super-rich. It isn't even close to Alan Shepard's first sub-orbital flight.

 

[arivero]

Nor to speak of Gagarin.

 

[shrumeo]

oh, i meant the time and budget
but, it's only a matter of time before this is effectively "scaled-up" so to speak

 

[paul11273]

Wow, you all seem rather pessimistic about this accomplishment.
I thought there would be much more upbeat comments on this board about such a milestone during our lifetimes.
When our grandchildren are planning trips to the moon or ISS for their vacation, we will look back at this as an "I remember when..." story.