Space Ship One Launch

[Jack]

White Knight/Space Ship One launched approx. 1347Z (on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, FNN
in US).



Jack

[Justin Peer]

On 2004-06-21 21:49:50 +0800, Jack > said:

> White Knight/Space Ship One launched approx. 1347Z (on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, FNN
> in US).
>
>
>
> Jack

Yeah, watching it online in Borneo. Wish I were there.

[S Green]

Links

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/events04/sci/spaceship1/launch21jun.ram

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/events04/sci/spaceship1/nb_60km.ram



"Justin Peer" > wrote in message
...
> On 2004-06-21 21:49:50 +0800, Jack > said:
>
> > White Knight/Space Ship One launched approx. 1347Z (on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN,
FNN
> > in US).
> >
> >
> >
> > Jack
>
> Yeah, watching it online in Borneo. Wish I were there.
>

It's 11:00am and I just got home from the event. From a college student who
has been to countless airshows, flown in a P-51 and a B-25, seen Chuck
Yeager break the sound barrier at Edwards, seen the space shuttle land, and
flown that wonderful first solo flight, I can say that this was just about
the greatest thing I've ever seen. This event filled me with many emotions -
one of the greatest of these is a desire to push myself at school and truly
earn my aerospace engineering degree. When the crowd finally spotted the
aircraft way off southeast (almost directly into the sun....), and a bright
new contrail appeared in the sky, a cheer broke out that was simply
inspirational. More cheers broke out 3-4 minutes later when that distinctive
sonic boom rattled the desert and a craft appeared directly above, slowly
looping down to a warmly greeted landing.

Today was a day I'll never forget. Definitely a high point in my life. I
don't know how the pictures/video turned out, but if it's any good and
there's interest, I'll see what I can upload. But there is simply no
substitute for being there....


-Tony
Student Pilot


"Jack" wrote
> White Knight/Space Ship One launched approx. 1347Z (on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN,
FNN
> in US).
>
>
>
> Jack
>

[John Theune]

> wrote in :

> It's 11:00am and I just got home from the event. From a college
> student who has been to countless airshows, flown in a P-51 and a
> B-25, seen Chuck Yeager break the sound barrier at Edwards, seen the
> space shuttle land, and flown that wonderful first solo flight, I can
> say that this was just about the greatest thing I've ever seen. This
> event filled me with many emotions - one of the greatest of these is a
> desire to push myself at school and truly earn my aerospace
> engineering degree. When the crowd finally spotted the aircraft way
> off southeast (almost directly into the sun....), and a bright new
> contrail appeared in the sky, a cheer broke out that was simply
> inspirational. More cheers broke out 3-4 minutes later when that
> distinctive sonic boom rattled the desert and a craft appeared
> directly above, slowly looping down to a warmly greeted landing.
>
> Today was a day I'll never forget. Definitely a high point in my life.
> I don't know how the pictures/video turned out, but if it's any good
> and there's interest, I'll see what I can upload. But there is simply
> no substitute for being there....
>
>
> -Tony
> Student Pilot
>
>
> "Jack" wrote
>> White Knight/Space Ship One launched approx. 1347Z (on MSNBC, CNBC,
>> CNN,
> FNN
>> in US).
>>
>>
>>
>> Jack
>>
>
>
>

I lived on the west coast back in the 80's and was able to go up to
Edwards to see the first shuttle landing there. It too was a
unforgetable experience and I just wish I had been able to make it out
for this one.

[George]

Justin Peer > wrote in message >...
> On 2004-06-21 21:49:50 +0800, Jack > said:
>
> > White Knight/Space Ship One launched approx. 1347Z (on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, FNN
> > in US).
> >
> >
> >
> > Jack
>
> Yeah, watching it online in Borneo. Wish I were there.

Great stuff. Now can they get the same level of funding as NASA?
After all they're successful (and cheaper)

[Jim Atkins]

Just got back from Mojave (about 150 mi away, roughly) and the first
suborbital flight of Spaceshipone. Somebody needs to do a 1/32 scale resin
of that baby- it's fairly small. Got to see my first Alpha Jet, too. They
are using an ex-Luftwaffe one as a camera ship for Discovery channel. The
carrier plane, White Knight, looks like a P-38 on hallucinogens. Totally
cool. Also along were an Extra 300 and a Beech Starship as chase planes.

The mated WK/SS1 took off and did circles around the area to get altitude
for about 50 minutes before drop. We were able to see them for quite a while
thanks to contrails. Just before drop the pair came at us from out of the
ease, just below the rising sun. We could see the smoke trail from the
rocket engine heading apparently straight up next to the sun and then at
burnout, the tiny spacecraft was lost to view. The local radio station was
broadcasting the radio from the tower, so we could hear when Mike Melville
was making position and altitude callouts. As the ship descended, we could
see the chase ships converging on his position. The formation circled the
field as they descended for landing. On the last turn round, the ship lined
up on the runway and touched down just north of our viewing area.

People were going nuts yelling and cheering when the rocket ignited and you
could see the trail shooting straight up out of the sun. When the sonic boom
filtered down to us there was a wave of cheering from the approximately
50,000 on hand. Now I know how it felt to watch Yeager or Shepard or Glenn.
On the way home, I also realized that that was the first time in my life I
had seen a formation of all four ways (yes, I know I'm forgetting electric,
but don't spoil the poetry of the moment) to power an aircraft- rocket, jet,
turboprop, and piston. Totally unforgettable.


--
Jim Atkins
Twentynine Palms, CA USA

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-Groucho Marx

[John Shelton]

Nice write up. A correction: Not Glenn and Shephard.

Scott Crossfield, Joe Walker, Bob White, Joe Engle, Neil Armstrong, Pete
Knight, Bill Dana, Milt Thompson, Mike Adams, Pete Peterson, Jack Knight,
Bob Rushworth in 199 flights of the X-15.

While Glenn and Shephard are plenty brave men for their rocket rides, that
old man today (63 and as old as my older brother) brought it in and landed
by hand using his eyes and brains to put it on the numbers.

It was a wonder to behold. Next time, though, I want to see if fromt he side
instead of looking straight up so I can get a sense of the trajectory.

[Jim Atkins]

Glenn and Shepard in the sense of seeing a real first- not to take away from
the X-15 guys- in my opinion Crossfield deserved a Medal of Freedom just for
staying cool during that engine test that blew the back half of the vehicle
to shreds. Did you hear that Pete Knight just passed away? He was a
legislator in Sacramento.

--
Jim Atkins
Twentynine Palms, CA USA

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-Groucho Marx

[Kirk Stant]

I wonder what kind of flight plan he filed? Did he have to cancel when
he exceeded FL600? And pick up an IFR flight plan prior to descending
below 60,000ft?

Or maybe they just had one hell of a wave window!

Kirk

[Pete]

"Jim Atkins" > wrote in message
...
> Glenn and Shepard in the sense of seeing a real first-

Let's not forget Yuri in there.

Pete

[Bob Fry]

Say, did the White Knight, or SS1, land first?

How long between the landings?

[Jim Thomas]

I noted from the TV news reports that Mr. Melville was wearing only a
flight suit and an oxygen mask (no full or partial pressure suit).
Does anyone know whether the cockpit was pressurized? If not (and even
if so) this was pretty risky.

Jim Thomas

> While Glenn and Shephard are plenty brave men for their rocket rides, that
> old man today (63 and as old as my older brother) brought it in and landed
> by hand using his eyes and brains to put it on the numbers.
>
> It was a wonder to behold. Next time, though, I want to see if fromt he side
> instead of looking straight up so I can get a sense of the trajectory.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"John Shelton" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> Nice write up. A correction: Not Glenn and Shephard.
>

What correction? Not Glenn and Shepard for what?

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Jim Atkins" > wrote in message
...
>
> Glenn and Shepard in the sense of seeing a real first-
>

Neither achieved a real first.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Pete" > wrote in message
...
>
> Let's not forget Yuri in there.
>

Are you sure Gagarin was first?

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Jim Thomas" > wrote in message
m...
>
> I noted from the TV news reports that Mr. Melville was wearing only a
> flight suit and an oxygen mask (no full or partial pressure suit).
> Does anyone know whether the cockpit was pressurized? If not (and even
> if so) this was pretty risky.
>

Well, if he wasn't wearing any type of pressure suit, he wouldn't have
survived without a pressurized cockpit.

[Pete]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> "Pete" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Let's not forget Yuri in there.
> >
>
> Are you sure Gagarin was first?

True. But we may never know for sure if there was another.

Pete

[Teacherjh]

>> Or maybe they just had one hell of a wave window!

What's a wave window? Can I use it to go into space with an Archer?

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Pete" > wrote in message
...
>
> True. But we may never know for sure if there was another.
>

Agreed. I read a very plausible article some time ago which suggested
Gagarin was third.

[Jim Atkins]

SS1 landed first- WK did a flyby and a nice break over the runway before
landing about 10 minutes later.

--
Jim Atkins
Twentynine Palms, CA USA

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-Groucho Marx

[Jay Beckman]

"Jim Thomas" > wrote in message
m...
> I noted from the TV news reports that Mr. Melville was wearing only a
> flight suit and an oxygen mask (no full or partial pressure suit).
> Does anyone know whether the cockpit was pressurized? If not (and even
> if so) this was pretty risky.
>
> Jim Thomas
>

Burt Rutan made reference to a "shirt sleeve" environment in the
cockpit...so I guess it was pressurized.

Jay B in AZ

[Neil Gerace]

"Jim Atkins" > wrote in message
...
> SS1 landed first- WK did a flyby and a nice break over the runway before
> landing about 10 minutes later.

Any report of this flight on the net?

and, what kind of aircraft is the White Knight?

[Tom Sixkiller]

"Jay Beckman" > wrote in message
news:5YQBc.7235$5t2.7155@fed1read01...
> "Jim Thomas" > wrote in message
> m...
> > I noted from the TV news reports that Mr. Melville was wearing only a
> > flight suit and an oxygen mask (no full or partial pressure suit).
> > Does anyone know whether the cockpit was pressurized? If not (and even
> > if so) this was pretty risky.
> >
> > Jim Thomas
> >
>
> Burt Rutan made reference to a "shirt sleeve" environment in the
> cockpit...so I guess it was pressurized.
>

If he went any higher than about 55,000 feet is was.

[Maule Driver]

"Teacherjh" > wrote in message >
> What's a wave window? Can I use it to go into space with an Archer?
>
Only if you junk the engine and add a little span. A Grob will get you
higher than an Archer.

[Tony Cox]

"Pete" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Jim Atkins" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Glenn and Shepard in the sense of seeing a real first-
>
> Let's not forget Yuri in there.

And don't forget Leika, who probably had as much
say in the matter as Yuri. Even though she had twice
the number of legs, she had only a one-way ticket poor
thing.

[John Shelton]

Just that the comparison of John Glenn and Alan Shepard wasn't really
analogous to Melvil's flight. Melvil actually flew the thing and landed it.
Therefore, it was more like the X-15 pilots than the Mercury astronauts or
the cosmonauts. (usual disclaimer here about everyone being brave, etc.)



"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> "John Shelton" > wrote in message
> ink.net...
> >
> > Nice write up. A correction: Not Glenn and Shephard.
> >
>
> What correction? Not Glenn and Shepard for what?
>
>

[G.R. Patterson III]

Jim Thomas wrote:
>
> I noted from the TV news reports that Mr. Melville was wearing only a
> flight suit and an oxygen mask (no full or partial pressure suit).
> Does anyone know whether the cockpit was pressurized? If not (and even
> if so) this was pretty risky.

If he wasn't in a pressure suit, the cabin had to have been pressurized or he would
not have been able to survive.

George Patterson
None of us is as dumb as all of us.

[Casey Wilson]

"G.R. Patterson III" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Jim Thomas wrote:
> >
> > I noted from the TV news reports that Mr. Melville was wearing only a
> > flight suit and an oxygen mask (no full or partial pressure suit).
> > Does anyone know whether the cockpit was pressurized? If not (and even
> > if so) this was pretty risky.
>
> If he wasn't in a pressure suit, the cabin had to have been pressurized or
he would
> not have been able to survive.
>
During the post event news conference, I asked those questions. Mr.
Melvill's responses were: no, he does not wear anything other than flight
suit, helmet, and parachute; yes, the cabin is pressurized [to 14 psi]; it
is tested at 34 psi for a number of hours; the only leaks are at control
interfaces and they are tiny; one pre-launch check item is cracking open a
valve from an air-bottle to trickle air into the cabin. He said the dual
pane windows and tight fit of the door are excellent and he does not
consider depressurization a risk to consider.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Casey Wilson" > wrote in message
...
>
> During the post event news conference, I asked those questions. Mr.
> Melvill's responses were: no, he does not wear anything other than flight
> suit, helmet, and parachute; yes, the cabin is pressurized [to 14 psi]; it
> is tested at 34 psi for a number of hours; the only leaks are at control
> interfaces and they are tiny; one pre-launch check item is cracking open a
> valve from an air-bottle to trickle air into the cabin. He said the dual
> pane windows and tight fit of the door are excellent and he does not
> consider depressurization a risk to consider.
>

Yeah, and a DC-10 can't lose all it's hydraulics.

[Stop SPAM]

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
> "Pete" > wrote:
>>True. But we may never know for sure if there was another.
>>
> Agreed. I read a very plausible article some time ago which suggested
> Gagarin was third.

Steven -

Do you have a cite for the article, please?

[Stop SPAM]

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
> "Pete" > wrote in message
>>True. But we may never know for sure if there was another.
> Agreed. I read a very plausible article some time ago which suggested
> Gagarin was third.

Steven -

Do you have a cite for the article, please?

[Stop SPAM]

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
> "Pete" > wrote in message
>>True. But we may never know for sure if there was another.
> Agreed. I read a very plausible article some time ago which suggested
> Gagarin was third.

Steven -

Do you have a cite for the article, please?

[Stop SPAM]

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
> "Pete" > wrote in message
>> True. But we may never know for sure if there was another.
> Agreed. I read a very plausible article some time ago which suggested
> Gagarin was third.

Steven -

Do you have a cite for the article, please?

[Stop SPAM]

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
> "Pete" > wrote in message
>>True. But we may never know for sure if there was another.
> Agreed. I read a very plausible article some time ago which suggested
> Gagarin was third.

Steven -

Do you have a cite for the article, please?

[Peter Duniho]

"Stop SPAM" > wrote (five times)...
^^^^ ^^^^
> [snipped]

How ironic... :)

[Casey Wilson]

"Stop SPAM" > wrote in message
...

Would you consider changing your nick, please......

[Scott Ferrin]

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 21:25:53 GMT, "Casey Wilson" >
wrote:

>
>"Stop SPAM" > wrote in message
...
>
> Would you consider changing your nick, please......
>

Why? Are you Pro Spam?

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Stop SPAM" > wrote in message
...
>
> Do you have a cite for the article, please?
>

No, I don't. It was a few years ago and I don't remember the source.

As I recall, there was an Italian physician who was a space buff and
monitored satellite transmissions. He claimed he heard a human heartbeat
aboard. The story had it that the Russians had a problem bringing the craft
down at the appointed time, and when they corrected the problem it was out
of position for a landing in the USSR. Before it was again in a suitable
position the cosmonaut died. This was supposedly the first man in space.

The second flight was flown by the son of a famous Russian aero designer, I
do not recall which. More problems in the return from orbit left him very
severely injured.

Then came Yuri Gagarin, his flight went according to plan and it was
announced as the first human spaceflight afterward.

I'm not saying it happened this way, of course, but it is plausible. After
all, the Russians didn't announce their flights beforehand, and there's no
reason to keep them secret if you intend to announce your failures anyway.

[Brian Burger]

On Wed, 23 Jun 2004, Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

>
> "Stop SPAM" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Do you have a cite for the article, please?
> >
>
> No, I don't. It was a few years ago and I don't remember the source.

The "Phantom Cosmonauts/Astronauts", so-called. Discussed, and largely
explained/debunked, here: http://www.astronautix.com/astrogrp/phanauts.htm

The Judica-Cordiglia brothers (the Italians in question) have a website
devoted to them here: http://www.lostcosmonauts.com/

.... and are debunked fairly convincingly here:
http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/Torre/TorreB.html

Interesting stuff, anyway, even if it is mostly nonsense. The Soviets
*did* hide a lot of stuff away from public scrutiny in the early days.
(NASA probably wished it could do the same thing, some days early in the
space race!)

Brian


>
> As I recall, there was an Italian physician who was a space buff and
> monitored satellite transmissions. He claimed he heard a human heartbeat
> aboard. The story had it that the Russians had a problem bringing the craft
> down at the appointed time, and when they corrected the problem it was out
> of position for a landing in the USSR. Before it was again in a suitable
> position the cosmonaut died. This was supposedly the first man in space.
>
> The second flight was flown by the son of a famous Russian aero designer, I
> do not recall which. More problems in the return from orbit left him very
> severely injured.
>
> Then came Yuri Gagarin, his flight went according to plan and it was
> announced as the first human spaceflight afterward.
>
> I'm not saying it happened this way, of course, but it is plausible. After
> all, the Russians didn't announce their flights beforehand, and there's no
> reason to keep them secret if you intend to announce your failures anyway.
>
>
>

[Paul Sengupta]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
link.net...
> The second flight was flown by the son of a famous Russian aero designer,
I
> do not recall which. More problems in the return from orbit left him very
> severely injured.

Vladimir Ilyushin. The story does that the craft was only supposed to make
one orbit before re-entry. Soemthing went wrong and he ended up doing
three orbits before landing in China.

The "story" was that he was badly injured and spent months in a Chinese
hospital, the craft having come down in China. The unofficial (though it's
all unofficial) story was that he wasn't badly injured at all.
Russian/Chinese
relations weren't the best at the time and it's said he spent the months
(6 months? More?) in a Chinese prison.

> Then came Yuri Gagarin, his flight went according to plan and it was
> announced as the first human spaceflight afterward.
>
> I'm not saying it happened this way, of course, but it is plausible.
After
> all, the Russians didn't announce their flights beforehand, and there's no
> reason to keep them secret if you intend to announce your failures anyway.

Paul

[Bruce Hoult]

In article
>,
"Neil Gerace" > wrote:

> "Jim Atkins" > wrote in message
> ...
> > SS1 landed first- WK did a flyby and a nice break over the runway before
> > landing about 10 minutes later.
>
> Any report of this flight on the net?

Only from every newspaper on the planet with a web site.


> and, what kind of aircraft is the White Knight?

It's a Rutan "White Knight", I guess. A one of a kind, developed
specially for this purpose. Presumably it benefitted from earlier
experience with Proteus, though it is configured entirely differently.


It was a great event to see, even if I had to take 12 hour flight across
the Pacific and back -- and sleep in the XCOR hangar -- in order to be
there.

-- Bruce