Outer space on the cheap
Peter Weiss
On June 21, a rocket-powered airplane known as SpaceShipOne soared 100 kilometers above Earth to the fringes of space, carrying out the first-ever private, manned space mission. The flight was a milestone for privately funded efforts to develop low-cost space technology.
LITTLE ROCKET THAT COULD. Seen from below, the first private, manned vehicle to reach space glides back to its landing field.
Scaled Composites
Before its self-powered ascent, the three-seater SpaceShipOne was lofted to about 14 km altitude by a larger plane designed for the purpose. That's a few kilometers higher than a typical cruising altitude for an airliner.
Compared with a ground launch, such a midaltitude send-off slashes the power and fuel required to get a vehicle into space, says Matthew Gionta, chief engineer of Scaled Composites, the Mojave, Calif., company that built and flew SpaceShipOne.
This flight strategy was but one of many ways that SpaceShipOne's designers cut expenses, which still amounted to about $20 million. "You'd be amazed at how low-technology [the spacecraft] is," Gionta says.
Scaled Composites next plans to compete for a $10 million purse called the X-prize that has been offered by a St. Louis–based foundation to the first team that flies a privately funded, three-seater spacecraft twice to space and back within a 2-week period. A long-term goal is to start an era of affordable space tourism.
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Letters:
Not to detract from this project's accomplishments or its potential, but does space really need tourists? It's not a sideshow. It will still be dangerous and expensive. Assuming that space travel will be like today's airline travel is mistaken, especially in the near term. Let's remember that this project's success so far also rests on the lessons learned from the past.
Dennis Blanchard
San Jose, CA
References:
2004. SpaceShipOne makes history: First private manned mission to space. Scaled Composites-Tier One/SpaceShipOne press release. June 21. Available at http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/062104-2.htm.
Further Readings:
A Web site about Scaled Composites' manned space program, including SpaceShipOne, is available at http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/.
Sources:
Matthew Gionta
Scaled Composites, LLC
1624 Flight Line
Mojave, CA 93501
From Science News, Volume 166, No. 3, July 17, 2004, p. 46.
