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#1
June 23rd 04, 03:58 AM
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Setback for Rutan
Looks like the flight did not go to plan.
According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee (nothing specific mentioned). He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the X-Prize, but another test flight. Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18 months away, so time isn't that critical. Peter Kemp 
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#2
June 23rd 04, 07:50 AM
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On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 22:58:19 -0400, Peter Kemp
wrote: Looks like the flight did not go to plan. According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee (nothing specific mentioned). He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the X-Prize, but another test flight. Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18 months away, so time isn't that critical. Peter Kemp And besides they have to try and find all those stupid M&Ms he let loose in the cockpit.
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#3
June 23rd 04, 10:53 PM
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#4
June 24th 04, 02:06 AM
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On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 06:50:21 GMT, Buzzer wrote:
On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 22:58:19 -0400, Peter Kemp wrote: Looks like the flight did not go to plan. According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee (nothing specific mentioned). He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the X-Prize, but another test flight. Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18 months away, so time isn't that critical. Peter Kemp And besides they have to try and find all those stupid M&Ms he let loose in the cockpit. I had to laugh at that. If it were NASA they'd ground the Shuttle for two years and spend a billion dollars on a new "M&Ms-don't-become-airborne" system.
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#5
June 23rd 04, 08:55 AM
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Note that they will have to make 2 more trips for the prize if they
miss the 2 week window. Still better to delay then risk life, limb, and the hardware. Peter Kemp wrote in message . .. Looks like the flight did not go to plan. According to BBC reports quoting Rutan there were severe control problems that forced the pilot (ok, ok, astronaut) to resort to backup controls just after boost (uncommanded roll) and again near Apogee (nothing specific mentioned). He says they're not flying again until they know what the hell happened, and the next flight will not now be the first for the X-Prize, but another test flight. Can't say I blame him, and Starchaser (the next closest IIRC) are 18 months away, so time isn't that critical. Peter Kemp
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#6
June 23rd 04, 11:49 AM
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"miso" wrote in message om... Note that they will have to make 2 more trips for the prize if they miss the 2 week window. Still better to delay then risk life, limb, and the hardware. They have to make at least two more trips for the prize regardless of anything else, as they have yet to make a single qualifying flight.
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#7
June 23rd 04, 10:54 PM
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#9
June 24th 04, 02:07 AM
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In article ,
Peter Kemp writes: On 23 Jun 2004 21:54:57 GMT, (B2431) wrote: From: "Steven P. McNicoll" Date: 6/23/2004 5:49 AM Central Daylight Time Message-id: .net "miso" wrote in message e.com... Note that they will have to make 2 more trips for the prize if they miss the 2 week window. Still better to delay then risk life, limb, and the hardware. They have to make at least two more trips for the prize regardless of anything else, as they have yet to make a single qualifying flight. How did this one not qualify? Not high enough and did not carry 3 humans (although I think 2 of the "passengers" can be weighted dummies. The flight was high enough - IIRC, the apogee was 100.125 km, so they had 1/8 of a km in the bag. (Not enough really, you wnat to have more in the case of an instrumentation hiccup) In order to qualigy as an X-Prize flight, it has to be carrying ballast equivalent to two passengers (And no, you don't get to pick the passengers, it's a specified weight), and the flight has to have been pre-announced by 30 days, with another flight following within 14 days. This flight wasn't intended to be an X-Prize flight, but a test flight. Burt Rutan's been running an orderly and reaosonable test program, taking each stage in bite-sized increments, and resolving problems as he goes. (His normal approach) There hasn't yet been the 30 day pre-boarding call. -- Pete Stickney A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures. -- Daniel Webster
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#10
June 24th 04, 03:14 AM
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"Peter Kemp" wrote in message ... Not high enough and did not carry 3 humans (although I think 2 of the "passengers" can be weighted dummies. It was high enough but did not carry the two passengers/ballast.
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