Aero-News Alert: THEY DID IT! | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-11.17.25

AirborneNextGen-
11.11.25

Airborne-Unlimited-11.12.25

Airborne-FltTraining-11.13.25

AirborneUnlimited-11.14.25

LIVE MOSAIC Town Hall (Archived): www.airborne-live.net

Tue, Jun 22, 2004

Aero-News Alert: THEY DID IT!

Privately-Funded Spacecraft Makes It To 100 KM Milestone

Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne, piloted by 62-year old Mike Melvill (below), achieved its goal Monday. He boosted to an altitude of just slightly over 328,000 feet -- 62.5 miles -- becoming the world's first private-industry astronaut.

The flight was not without some tense moments. Melvill was forced to resort to some alternate control systems when primary trim systems failed in flight. ANN Publisher Jim Campbell, flying just feet away from Scaled's SpaceShipOne in a Beechcraft Starship chase plane, was the first to report some indications of possible thermal or load damage on the aft portion of the spacecraft, just in front of the rocket bell. Worst of all... a momentary communications glitch at the apex of Mike's flight caused everyone a few nervous moments until Mike started talking again. Ultimately though, a thorough check by all three chase planes revealed Melvill's ship was sound for landing. He made a perfect touchdown at the airport in Mojave (CA) at 1114 EDT.

FMI: www.scaled.com

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (11.18.25)

“Setting eight speed records this quickly following its August entry into service is a powerful testament to the tremendous capabilities of this aircraft. We are already seei>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.18.25): On-Course Indication

On-Course Indication An indication on an instrument, which provides the pilot a visual means of determining that the aircraft is located on the centerline of a given navigational t>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (11.18.25)

Aero Linx: WW1 Aeroplanes, Inc. WORLD WAR 1 AEROPLANES was founded by Leo Opdycke in 1961 and incorporated as a federally recognized 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation in 1979,>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Shoemaker Ronald R Pazmany PL-2

Pilot Reported That He Purchased The Airplane Earlier That Day Analysis: The pilot reported that he purchased the airplane earlier that day and completed a condition inspection tha>[...]

Airborne-NextGen 11.18.25: Dream Chaser Preps, Joby eTurbine, UAE Flt Test

Also: Abu Dhabi’s 1st Vertiport Network, Anduril-EDGE Partner, Vertical Permit/eVTOL Regs Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane has cleared another round of pre-flight>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC