On 05 Oct 2004 19:53:04 GMT, (B2431) wrote:


Date: 10/5/2004 10:12 Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

On 5 Oct 2004 05:21:06 -0700, ChuckSlusarczyk
wrote:

I say it's a fantastic job well done!

So say us all!!

Chuck (former NASA geek) S

It was a great feat, done in typically inventive Rutan fashion. I'm
just having a hard time imagining how it could be of any possible use
to anyone besides Burt Rutan and Richard Branson. Is this to be the
near space equivalent of a carnival thrill ride, albeit a hideously
expensive and extremely dangerous one?

The same kind of launch has been available commercially for years at fairly
low prices...the difference now is that humans can *ride* the sounding
rocket. So the only real application is barnstorming.

If the prices come down enough I could see this as an
inercontinental/transcontinental business jet application.

Ummm, well. Sure, SpaceShipOne hauls, but the motor only burns for a
couple of minutes. If you try to get some horizontal range out of it,
it'll spend more energy fighting drag. Transatmospheric flight ain't my
bag, but I'm guessing you'll have to get at least half orbital velocity to
get the range to stretch out. That's two or three times faster than SS1.

Ron Wanttaja