May 16, 2004
Mike Melvill, the new Yuri Gragarin?
Scaled Composites, a California-based aerospace company, is currently the lead contender for a private enterprise competition, the Ansari X-Prize. The basic premise behind the competition requires that a space-bearing vehicle is launched carrying three occupants to an altitude of at least 100 kilometers. Furthermore, an additional stipulation requires that this hair raising feat must be repeated utilizing the same launch vehicle within the following two weeks from the original launch.
Last week, news of Scaled Composites latest test run of its entrant, SpaceShipOne, took one small step in an otherwise giant leap -- it successfully reached an altitude of over 210,000 feet (approximately 41 miles), an accomplishment no other private venture has managed to do (the Air Force X-15 did 40 years ago).
While ship designer Burt Rutan is receiving many accolades for his amazing engineering talents, the death-defying moonstruck pilot, Mike Melvill, has officially received the industry coveted, Tim Swanson Jolly Good Show award which grants the recipient:
- a firm handshake with either hand
- an ice cold draft beer
- David® sunflower seeds
- an 1:32 parachute replica
- and a cheap knock-off sundial made of LEGO’s
Is Mike the next Gragarin, Shepard, Lindbergh, or is he simply in a league of his own?
On a related note, Paul Moller, designer of the Skycar (http://www.moller.com/skycar/) showed his automobile/plane hybrid in San Francisco -- to the amazement of everyone attending: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/15/nextfest_wrap/
Posted by: Tim Swanson at May 16, 2004 10:52 AMSomeone has been in academics lately!:
"The basic premise behind the competition requires that a space-bearing vehicle is launched carrying three occupants to an altitude of at least 100 kilometers. Furthermore, an additional stipulation requires that this hair raising feat must be repeated utilizing the same launch vehicle within the following two weeks from the original launch."
could be:
"The competition requires that a space-bearing vehicle be launched carrying three occupants to an altitude of at least 100 kilometers. Also, that same feat must be repeated once more with the same vehicle in the next two weeks."
Less words...more sense! :) Glad you are back blogging so that I have a means to fufill my desire to mock a certain individual (ie. Glad you are back blogging -- now I have someone to mock.)
Posted by: Mike at May 17, 2004 12:34 AMMike Melvill (and Burt Rutan, and the other SpaceShipOne astronauts) are the first heros of the Twenty-first Century! They rival the Wright Brothers of Kitty Hawk.
Posted by: DeLane W. Isaak at June 22, 2004 01:19 PM