This from Space.com: In the second glide flight of SpaceShipOne, the flying qualities and performance in the spaceship re-entry or "feather" mode were evaluated. In this test, the vehicle’s tail section was moved to an upward position. Pilot Mike Melvill put SpaceShipOne through an assertive set of in-flight tests. Transition to the feather mode occurred at 43,000 feet. As the tail booms and aft wing transitioned upward, the vehicle body smoothly pitched up and then returned to an approximately level pitch attitude during about 70-seconds of fully-feathered descent. A smooth touchdown of SpaceShipOne was made ten-and-a-half minutes after launch from the White Knight carrier vehicle. More here. There will be video of this glide test and the 'feathering' on the scaled.com website by the end of the month.
You seem pretty interested in this SpaceShipOne thing GOO. But I don't understand the reasoning behind SpaceShipOne. Can in fly around the world in a couple of hours or is it just for tourists that want to fly to the very edge of the atmostphere?
I don't think anyone's thought up a complete plan for the system; they just want to make a re-usable space craft that can be launched; return to earth and then do the same thing again within 24 hours (something like that) so they win $10,000,000. Maybe if they do win they'll set up some kind of tourist program/flights around the world; i can see it having a good use for emergencies and the suchlike, getting around the world in about 90 minutes or so...
It's all part or Rutan's "Tier One" programme, which aims to win the x-prize, kick start private access to space and serve as a technology demonstrator. It flys into space - but not into orbit. So whilst it is a space ship, it's only really good for the x-prize and the first leg of space tourism (a bit like fairground flights in the first planes back at the turn of the 20th century). I suppose it could also be used to lob small payloads into LEO as well. Yeah - I am interested in this. I believe that this sort of thing (the x-prize and and the work being done by Scaled, Starchaser, Canadian Arrow, Armadillo Aerospace etc) is the best hope for cheap, sustainable and regular access to space. Monolithic agencies like NASA, the old Russian Space Agency, ESA etc have had their day - they're too mired in red-tape and bureaucracy.
The future of space travel and most things these days actually is with commercial businesses rather than country agencies. Mainly political reasons for this, but in order for businesses to invest it has to become commercially viable The sigh is because a lot of companies really lack vision, especially the larger ones. Built on risk, but unwilling to take anymore, Hopefully though some new companies will take the vision and run with it
