SpaceShip One X-Prize Flight #1 Launch Mike Melvill

[2012goingNutz]

the shape looks like the sakaro bird found in Egypt. I wonder.

[2012goingNutz]

What a time to live in. He did it with some backyard parts. Needs thrusters to be more stable in upper atmosphere. A few bottles of compressed helium would work. We need to figure how to go beyond physically. Orbit seems to be pretty easy at this point. Where are thoes warp engines?

[mfb0]

@2012goingNutz In terms of energy, the orbit is far away. You need about 1MJ to get 1kg to a suborbital flight, but ~40MJ for the orbit. And rockets need exponential size and mass to deliver a certain energy to the payload.

[Htown20XX]

I think the best way is a scramjet if the heat issues can be solved and if they can be made cheap. The fuel is cheap the vehicle is what makes launches expensive

[Htown20XX]

They should change the defination of space craft to be something that can go into orbit. This can not go into orbit it can't go fast enough. A 62 mile suborbital flight is a lot easier than orbiting.

[ed11561]

3:14 Gee how come the sun shines in spikes like that when the apollo missions just looked like spotlights? Strange.

[kiithsjet2]

@ed11561 shines in spikes? does that mean something?



[cadu1995]

@kiithsjet2 i guess it's way over your head.

[kiithsjet2]

@cadu1995 probably not that its over my head, its that you need to strengthen your command of the english language so that ideas may be conveyed to native speakers. its called lens flare btw. and it has to do with how bright the light source is, shape of the lens, what the lens is made of, distance from light source, the angle in which the light source meets the lens, and lots of other crap and the flare will look completely different from case to case unless all variables are the same.

[Fragem420]

why such poor quality footage in 2010

[iputacapinurass]

@Fragem420 this is footage from 2004...

[datzfast]

@Fragem420 you are watching it in 240p you can watch it in HD if you buy the 1080p DVD. most crap on you tube is in 240P so you can download it in moments instead of days. dont you know anything?

[mosternaz]

I was standing at the runway fence for both launches. I can tell you it was the most amazing experience of my life......

[marvchomer]

I'll tell you what--I am more excited and impressed with this flight than watching the shuttle, soyuz or iss. Very cool stuff.

[Tio2Man1969]

I would sweep floors, take out the trash, clean the bathrooms, cut the grass, get everyone coffee, clean the offices....whatever it would take just to get my foot in the door at RAF/Scaled Composites and work my way up to test Pilot!!!! Just to go work in that enviroment each day....Wow!

[drewmagoo1]

@Tio2Man1969 Me too, I would scrub down every single plane at Mojave with a toothbrush if it just meant I could touch them!

[EuroHulk]

Brilliant achievement.

[apv778]

It seems to me the spacecraft is too unstable. This problem has to be solved.

[chris37865]

@apv778 It's fine, all air/spacecraft are engineered to flex within specific tolerances. Go to your local airport and take a flying lesson, even during normal flight the wings will flex. In in this case the craft is composite so it can take a lot more beating than an aluminum design.

[apv778]

@chris37865 I have a rough idea how it works, I'm a pilot.

[chris37865]

@apv778 Me too and if you are you would know it's fine.

[PaisGreenapple3]

Go Rutan go!!!!!

[TheSpiritof1969]

What was he thinking of letting it roll? He should have sorted it or aborted the flight. Any billionaire hoping for a taste of space would be put off by that. The fact is that it was unexpected and they should have worked out why it started to roll before continueing with the project.

This is a new aircraft and there are bound to be unexpected hitches but to blunder on becaue 'It was cool' was stupidity .... returning to earth in a shower of debris would not be that cool.

[terriers2012]

@TheSpiritof1969 how the hell would you abort mid flight? clearly nobody expected a roll and there's no way to tell it would happen until you test it. this is why test pilots have balls of steel.

[TheSpiritof1969]

@terriers2012

Of coarse it was unexpected, but once it developed the pilot should have aborted. .... like cut the power and jetteson the fuel. To have allowed the roll to continue was silly as the cause was unknown and it might have been damage to the airframe or control surfaces.

[Shaded07]

Now that's an underrated man!

--Rob USMC

[seanandlizzie]

if concorde was in service you may have seen it pass

[holiday666]

first virgin goes in space

[RoboTekno]

@holiday666 popped the space cherry :P

[popceed]

Higher than a U-2, GET EM RUTAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[popceed]

Galactic I mean

[popceed]

If that roll had occured in thicker air, the pilot wouldnt be commenting anything.

I hope they learnd a leason and put reaction controls on Virgin Atlantic

[datzfast]

@popceed had it been in air it couldnt roll, the only reaseon it did roll, no air.

[hariel]

Awsome! I missed the school that day, to watch the live online broadcast.

[neocoders]

I recall seeing cockpit footage somewhere, and when the pilot commented how he wasn't bothered by the roll, I thought "that man is a dude".

[propaghandi2]

@neocoders yeah man i remeber that and he also made a couple artifact float in the cockpit! Id like to see it still, i was just looking for it!

[littletone]

In and out of space for less than 1/1000 of what NASA is doing....

[detibry]

@littletone you've got to understand though that NASA is doing things 1000 times more difficult

[baillou2]

@littletone But keep in mind this was sub-orbital. Spaceship 1 had to get up to about mach 5 or so in order to gain its altitude for a few minutes then come back down.

Anything going into orbit has to reach mach 25 - about 4 miles per second - to stay in orbit.

[kdraper2007]

@baillou2 still, Not tooo shabby for a light aircraft manufacturer working on a shoestring budget. they've done better the Nasa or the old Soviet union. their first suborbital is economical, reusable, & far less risky then the big government spam cans.

[scoobydoo19911]

Awsome!!!!

[AlexanderLee1]

That guy is ridiculously brave.

[TeflonHuman]

Too bad the press failed to hail this as a milestone in the history of spaceflight.

[SporadicHesitation]

@TeflonHuman freaking press!!!

[mikekayaksfast]

that roll had to have been nauseating

[Jangle2007]

Fantastic Achievement! And now there is Space Ship 2 - an actual commercial venture to take paying passengers into space.

[AlexanderLee1]

@Jangle2007 This is definitely the future of space flight: innovations made for a profit.

[chuckyvee70]

@AlexanderLee1 Hopefully not after November of 2012...

[AlexanderLee1]

@chuckyvee70 Why is that?

[chuckyvee70]

@AlexanderLee1 Hopefully we will have a President who recognizes the lasting value of a FEDERALLY-FUNDED space program...civilian space travel is part of the future, but it should be a sideshow to manned missions to the Moon, Mars and the outer planets led by NASA...it will, of course, be expensive and dangerous....but America has to lead the way with major, MANNED missions...bottom line.

[AlexanderLee1]

@chuckyvee70 While I am opposed to almost everything Obama has done, cutting NASA's budget is one thing I agree with. The government should not spend money doing anything but protecting rights. What right does the government have to steal money to fund space exploration?

[peepdust]

@AlexanderLee1 He-3 (or helium 3) which can be mined on the moon.

[AlexanderLee1]

@peepdust Which comment of mine are you replying to?

[Jose04811]

@AlexanderLee1 well sapce is the last frontier

[StolenMonkey]

@Jose04811 we know more about space than we do about our deepest oceans.

[eoinroe]

Brilliant

[circusboy90210]

noc count down or anything just go WOW!!!

[phongbong]

They made it Jim, they made it. lol

[AFA2K12]

I just met Mr Melvill. Great guy

[remyworldpeace]

Thanks SO much for this.

I could never find a decent SSO video!!

[detibry]

rolls always seem to mess with telemetry.

[Hipster420]

would have been nice to see the landing,,still a 5 star vid though!