SpaceShipOne Flight

[gfish]

They've pre-announced the first SpaceShipOne flight into space! June 21, 6:30! Thank you thank you thank you Rutan for not being a privacy nazi for once!

(Details here.)

I will be going. Period. There is no way I'm going to miss the first private spacecraft launch when it is only a 16 hour drive away. There is no way I'm going to miss the first important space exploration milestone in several decades.

So the question is, who wants to tag along? They open the gates at 3:00, so I figure we leave here Sunday, June 20, 10:00. Get back sometime June 22, unless I'm the only driver.

Comments

[darlingfreak.livejournal.com]

Cool.... Very cool. :-)

[xmurf.livejournal.com]

I desperately want to come.

Also, my parents live a couple hours north of there, if crash space after the launch is desired. Also also my brothers live in LA, likewise.

[hollyking.livejournal.com]

Tempting... Very tempting.

[jadine.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I'd like to go, if I can get the time off work.

[corivax.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'd like to go. Wonder if work'd let me?

[stmachiavelli.livejournal.com]

My wife (saintswife) are going. Of course for us its only a two hour drive.

Oh, and 9thmoon sent me your way.

Heat shield? Not?

[(Anonymous)]

Very tempting to want to go down there and see it. Would be a great road trip and an unforgettable event. Too bad there's no TV coverage planned.

But my real question is...

How in blue blazer regulars does that thing re-enter the atmosphere without a heat shield? I've seen the pictures of it folding its wings so it can drop into the atmosphere like a shuttlecock, but I still don't understand why it doesn't need a heat shield. Does it just not go fast enough to need it?

And if sub-orbital flight is simply not fast enough to need a heat shield, then what good is the x-prize? You'd think commercialized *orbital* flight would be the holy grail.

Re: Heat shield? Not?

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Not going fast enough. A suborbital is much easier than orbital, because of the difference in speed. On a suborbital you just have to get up there, then fall back down. For orbit you have to get up there and be going 17,000 mph sidewise so you can stay up there. All that kinetic energy has to go somewhere when you come back down. Currently the only thing we can do with it is turn it into a lot of heat.

A commercial orbital flight is certainly the holy grail, but the point of the X-Prize is just to get things going. I've heard that there will be a new X-Prize of $20 million for orbital after the sub-orbital one is claimed. And I know Rutan plans on going for orbit with an improved SS1.

There is probably some money to be made from suborbitals, however. Thrill seekers, certainly. I'd do it, given the cash. And how much would Fortune 500 CEOs pay to get to Tokyo in 2 hours?

Re: Heat shield? Not?

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

Since he forgot to tell you, that was Tony, by the way. He asked me and I suggested he ask you instead. :)

Re: Heat shield? Not?

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Aha, I had been wondering.

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised to not see my husband in here, complaining bitterly about how it just had to be scheduled for our vacation.