Private Space Mission Honored As One Of History's Greatest Aviation Advances

Burt Rutan and the SpaceShipOne team, creators of the first-ever privately financed, manned spacecraft, was named winner of the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy Monday by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA). The Collier trophy, awarded since 1911, honors the greatest advances in aviation history.

For Rutan, it's familiar territory; he won the 1986 Collier award for his Voyager aircraft that made the first-ever non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world. The 2004 award specifically mentions Rutan, financial backer Paul Allen, pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie, Mission Control Director Doug Shane and the entire SpaceShipOne team.

Past winners include Orville Wright, Howard Hughes, Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield and the crew of Apollo 11.

SpaceShipOne went into space for the first time on June 21, 2004, when Mike Melvill piloted the craft 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface, an altitude considered to be the beginning of space.

In the fall of last year, SS1 made a pair of return trips to space within a week of each other to earn the $10 million Ansari X-Prize, given to the first team to prove that civilian manned spaceflight is feasible.

Formal trophy presentation is scheduled for April 19 at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

FMI: www.naa-usa.org