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Images by Mike Melvill of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and California
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Planet Earth from SpaceShipO
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Planet Earth from SpaceShipOne |
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On June 21st [ http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/062104-2.htm ], pilot Mike Melvill made a historic flight in the winged craft dubbed SpaceShipOne [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030627.html ] -- the first private manned mission to space. The spaceship reached an altitude of just over 62 miles (100 kilometers) on a suborbital trajectory [ http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ SP-4201/ch11-1.htm ], similar to the early space flights in NASA's Mercury Program [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990918.html ]. So, how was the view [ http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/ photos.htm ]? A video camera on an earlier test flight [ http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/logs.htm ] that climbed 40 miles recorded this picture looking west over the southern California coast and the Earth's limb [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030424.html ]. In the foreground, the nozzle of SpaceShipOne's hybrid rocket [ http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/TRC/Rockets/ history_of_rockets.html ] is visible along with the edge of the wing in a "feathered" configuration for reentry. SpaceShipOne was designed and built by Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites to compete for the 10 million dollar X Prize [ http://www.xprize.org/ ]. |
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