X PRIZE Foundation Celebrates Five Years Since the Ansari X PRIZE Win

On October 4th, 2004, the X PRIZE Foundation made international headlines when they awarded the Ansari X PRIZE to Scaled Composites for the successful launch of their craft, SpaceShipOne.   Inspired by the Orteig Prize, won by Charles Lindbergh in 1927 for the successful completion of the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris, Peter Diamandis formally announced the X PRIZE competition in 1996. The competition offered the largest incentive prize in history, a stunning $10 million dollar award, to the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft 100 kilometers above the earth’s surface twice within two weeks.