A Witness To Space Exploration, v2.0
This will certainly be a day I will not soon forget! ANN
Publisher Jim Campbell and I left the hotel in Palmdale at 0300 for
the Mojave Airport. A line of cars already stretched from the
airport entrance to Hwy 14, about 2 miles at that point. Media
vehicles formed endless rows, satellite trucks gathered as if it
were a telecommunications convention and still and video cameras
were amassed in the hundreds.
White Knight and SpaceShipOne taxied by right on time with the
sun having just risen over the high desert. The abandoned airliners
glimmered in the warm light as the twilight breeze dwindled leaving
a 4 knot headwind to assist in liftoff. Moments later, the chase
planes marched past one by one... first the Extra 300 low altitude
chase followed by the Beech/Raytheon Starship mid-level chase
(where ANN's Jim Campbell was getting a different view of the
proceedings, altogether!) and finally the AlphaJet high altitude
chase plane. All that was left was the odd creation we all waited
hours... years to see.
The twin engined White Knight with SpaceShipOne slung underneath
began it's journey down the runway to the familiar scream of small
turbine engines. The not so familiar thing was the elegant, complex
yet typical Rutan design that continues to amaze even those who
think they can comprehend the "outside the box" line of thinking.
Off to the NorthWest it headed beginning it's initial climb to
46,000 feet.
Everyone waited once more as the craft and it's chase planes
circled overhead for almost an hour. Edwards AFB officials had
joined the Scale Composites crew at Mojave not only to witness the
event, but also provide assistance in the form of altitude
verification via Edwards radar. They also authorized Rutan and his
team unlimited altitude through the airspace above Mojave belonging
to Edwards, "A tube to the moon," one narrator quoted.
"Inbound from the East, we anticipate detachment in
approximately 8 minutes." Simultaneously, cameras and crews swung
to their new position after spying on many of the VIP attendees
such as renowned aviator, Bob Hoover; first space tourist, Dennis
Tito; Virgin CEO, Richard Branson; Astronaut, Buzz Aldrin and
so many more.
Unfortunately, this thing called the sun rises in the East and
made finding the small aircraft nearly impossible. Flying at an
altitude above that of most airliners, SpaceShipOne was a hard
target to acquire. Catching in the viewfinder an aircraft one-third
the size of a Boeing 737 proved most challenging. Like many of the
miracles taking place in front of our very eyes, yet another was
about to occur: the sunlight glimmering off a faint contrail at the
last minute allowed us the opportunity to catch the moment. Within
seconds we heard the words, "SpaceShipOne has detached!"
A long thin trail streamed upwards at an incredible speed, Mach
3.2 to be exact... quite literally faster than a speeding
bullet. SpaceShipOne continued it's ascent long after it's rocket
motor had shut off...all the way to 62.5 miles! Pilot Mike Melvill
endured the 3+ G's until there was no gravity at all! Opening a bag
of M&M's he cheerfully watched them float in front of him in
total weightlessness for almost 3 minutes. Melvill had just become
the world's first civilian astronaut.
It took almost 20 minutes before SpaceShipOne became visible to
the naked eye circling around Mojave, gracefully strutting it's
accomplishments. Cameras pointed skywards searching for the
miniscule craft gliding effortlessly home accompanied by the
various chase planes as it descended within their reach. Chills
began running up the spines of so many people.
Gingerly touching down, eventually coming to a stop,
SpaceShipOne was greeted by the ground crew who ran a quick
inspection of the aircraft along with preparing it to be towed in
front of the media. After a short trip down the taxiway, Astronaut
Melvill stepped out and was greeted by project backer Paul G. Allen
and aircraft designer Burt Rutan. Thumbs up, waves and the crew
simply couldn't restrain smiles that had gone unseen in the days
leading up to this. Even a few tears were shed by an emotional Burt
Rutan as years of hard work were finally and triumphantly
fulfilled.
"Welcome to the Club!" laughed Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin
as he shook Melvill's hand. Although SpaceShipOne is now safely on
the ground and Mike Melvill has a new title, I doubt Mr. Melvill
will have truly landed for days to come.
On June 21st I was witness to what Burt Rutan noted as the 2nd
generation space program. Whether it be from a financial standpoint
or a visionary one, space travel will never be the same again. One
spectator said it best with a sign reading "SpaceShipONE,
GovernmentZERO."