Aero-News: Quote of the Day

ANN's Quote of the Day usually derives from current news, though we reserve the right to pick quotes out of history that have a bearing on the day's events and issues.

Sometimes, you'll find them timely and in keeping with the content of the day's news... and sometimes, they'll just be thought-provoking.

Reader suggestions and comments are welcome... and if particularly intriguing, timely, or poignant, may themselves become future Quotes of the Day.

Let us hear from you, folks!

Aero-News Quote of the Day

"Cheered down the runway by onlookers, the White Knight turbojet launch aircraft took off at 647 a.m. PST, carrying SpaceShipOne under its fuselage to an altitude of 47,000 feet. At 750 a.m. PST, flight engineer Matt Stinemetz released the spaceship and test pilot Mike Melville immediately fired the hybrid rocket motor. The rocket burn lasted for 76 seconds rocketing the vehicle to more than 2.9 Mach or 2150 miles an hour. At motor burn out, SpaceShipOne was at 180,000 feet and from there coasted the rest of the way into space reaching an apogee of 328,491 feet. Melvill experienced weightlessness for approximately 3 minutes as the vehicle slowly decelerated to apogee and then yielding to the pull of gravity commenced its historic return to earth in the craft's unique entry or feathered configuration. During the descent the pilot experienced forces greater than 5.0 G's as the vehicle accelerated again to 2.9 Mach. Melvill reconfigured the vehicle back to a glider at 57,000 feet and over the next 20 minutes enjoyed a leisurely descent to a graceful landing at Mojave, the Nation's first inland Space Port."

Source: From the June 21st, 2004 Mission Summary of the First Sub-Orbital Flight of SpaceShipOne -- five years ago today.

FMI: www.scaled.com, www.xprize.org