I just saw 'Black Sky, The Race to Space' on the Discovery Channel.
Boy! Wish I was on the team. What an opportunity to do something
good and exciting at the same time! I full of emotions when the
landing gear collapsed and when they Melvill made that beautiful
landing after reentry. Rutan is good and he has surrounded himself
with good people, that's the formula.

That Melvill guy's got balls. From being a high school drop-out to
first civilian in space in a 'homebuilt'! Only in America. What a
Country!

They had a sign that said:

Space Ship One
Government Zero

That is a great statement! Only in America do you get the freedom to
do something like this and to publicly say such a statement and not be
imprisoned or killed.

History in the making. I have confidence that Rutan has the
experience to address the roll problem.

I wish them all the best and I hope the rest of the tests and flights
continue safely and successfully.

Bryan "formerly known as 'The Monk'" Chaisone

Rich wrote in message ...
From http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ss1/040929x1launch.html

"Rutan said SpaceShipOne is particularly susceptible to rolls and has
been from the beginning.

"The airplane, since its early testing, we've been living with a known
deficiency," he said. "It's difficult to fix once you have an airplane
flying. It's easy to fix on the second airplane and we have very good
fixes for excess dihedral effects on our next spaceship."

He said Melvill's ability to easily overcome the roll proved the
spacecraft is more robust and, by design, forgiving than any other
manned spacecraft."



Kyle Boatright wrote:
Any rumblings from the desert on the cause of the roll problems during
yesterday's flight?

I know Melville said he might have stepped on something, and Rutan was
quoted as saying wind shear might cause a roll problem, but neither one
appeared to have much confidence in their answer.

An uncommanded roll like that would probably cause a permanant crease in my
seat cushion.

KB