These guys are going to win the X-Prize

Not following here... The X-Prize requires two flights as specified in the rules.

Which is what I said "(or one + payload)" upthread. This morning's flight did not carry a payload.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002000209_rocket09m.html.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2004/08/08/2002000037.jpg

I would name this airline 'Trans-Atmospheric'.

Scaled cashes in... I'm still patiently waiting on SS2.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Northrop Grumman Corp. has agreed to buy the company that built the first private manned rocket to reach space, it was announced Friday. Northrop earlier this month agreed to increase its stake in Mojave, Calif.-based Scaled Composites LLC from 40 percent to 100 percent, said company spokesman Dan McClain.

Northrop, a major defense contractor, would not disclose the value of the deal, which still needs regulatory approval.

"We went from a partial owner to the owner of the company," McClain said.

Northrop and Scaled said the new ownership would not affect Scaled's operations. Maverick aerospace designer Burt Rutan will remain at the helm of Scaled and the management team will remain intact, McClain said.

SpaceX finally makes orbit

HAWTHORNE, CA – September 28, 2008 – Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) announces that Flight 4 of the Falcon 1 launch vehicle has successfully launched and achieved Earth orbit. With this key milestone, Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth.

"This is a great day for SpaceX and the culmination of an enormous amount of work by a great team," said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX. "The data shows we achieved a super precise orbit insertion—middle of the bull's-eye — and then went on to coast and restart the second stage, which was icing on the cake."

awesome

Thread bump to mark the retirement of Burt Rutan

Launching Of Rocket By SpaceX Is Aborted

The rocket’s nine engines had ignited, but computers detected a discrepancy and shut them down. The next launching attempt will be, at the earliest, on Tuesday at 3:44 a.m., NASA officials said.

:-(

OTOH "safety mechanism does what it's supposed to"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18118136

"The engine controller noted high chamber pressure in engine five; software did what it was supposed to do - aborted engine five, and then we went through the remaining engine shut-down"

by the way, is there a better thread for this? i mean, this whole First Commercial Spacecraft to Dock with a Space Station thing is pretty momentous and i kind of want to hear what ilxors think (and add in my worthless two cents as well)

(my worthless two cents involve a ridiculous comparison to christopher columbus and fingerbiting agony that space will only be for rich people)

Don't wanna be a downer here, and don't get me wrong I fucking love space, but I kinda wonder what is the point? This final frontier isn't anything like Columbus' new world in terms of resources or accessibility. I'm all for long term thinking but we need to solve our resource and energy problems on earth here and now. Burning a few extra millions of gallons of oil in order to give some millionaire playboys a fantastic view, and maybe just maybe create a tiny outpost on a lump of sterile dusty rock, doesn't really seem like a worthwhile endeavour.

Virgin Galactic spaceship reaches new heights in supersonic flight

Well shit...

http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2014_44/745886/141031-virgin-galactic-crash-1648_67fc1df5373d6c069d1e11e66317e326.nbcnews-fp-1200-600.jpg

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/virgin-voyage/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-crashes-1-dead-1-injured-n238376

Virigin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane exploded and crashed during a test flight on Friday, killing one crew member and seriously injuring another, authorities said.

The explosion scattered debris across a two-mile swath of the desert floor outside Mojave, California, and came after the plane was released from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane. SpaceShipTwo was testing its rocket engine in flight for the first time in more than nine months.

"During the test, the vehicle suffered a serious anomaly resulting in the loss of the vehicle," Virgin Galactic said in a statement. "The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft landed safely. Our first concern is the status of the pilots."

Jesse Borne, an officer at the California Highway Patrol, told NBC News that there was one fatality and one major injury.

The flight originated from the Mojave Air and Space Port, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) north of Los Angeles. The Federal Aviation Administration said two crew members were aboard SpaceShipTwo — which is consistent with the standard practice of having two test pilots who are equipped with parachutes. The pilots have not yet been identified.

Photographer Ken Brown, who was covering the test flight, told NBC News that he saw an explosion high in the air and later came upon SpaceShipTwo debris scattered across a small area of the desert. The Mojave airport's director, Stuart Witt, said the craft crashed north of Mojave. He deferred further comment pending a news conference that is scheduled for 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET).

Keith Holloway, a Washington-based spokesman for the National Transportation and Safety Board, said "we are in the process of collecting information." The FAA said it was also investigating the incident.