Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Quixote1818

(28,903 posts)
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 02:20 PM Jul 2021

Back in 2004, Brian Binnie flew this little rocket-powered beauty, built in his garage, into space

Back in 2004, a guy named Brian Binnie flew this little rocket-powered beauty, basically built in Burt Rutan’s garage, into space. No computer controls, not even hydraulics…the control surfaces were connected to the joystick by cables and pulleys, like a WWI biplane. THIS was the first privately built aircraft to fly to space, twice within two weeks.
So when Amazon man emerges from his ridiculously expensive toy that he had nothing to do with designing, building or flying (he even thanked all of us for paying for it), wearing a cowboy hat as if he some living-on-the-edge maverick who’s risking it all…well, I’ll tip my hat in respect to Brian.
Great little documentary about Burt and the whole crew if anyone’s interested…

16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Back in 2004, Brian Binnie flew this little rocket-powered beauty, built in his garage, into space (Original Post) Quixote1818 Jul 2021 OP
Thanks for introducing me/us to Brian. Bookmarked for future reference. abqtommy Jul 2021 #1
No billionaires involved here .... relayerbob Jul 2021 #2
KNR and bookmarking niyad Jul 2021 #3
Bookmarking for later Bayard Jul 2021 #4
Wow, this looks like Richard Branson's guys might have studied 2Gingersnaps Jul 2021 #5
Branson bought Burt Rutan for Virgin ... TomWilm Jul 2021 #11
SpaceShipOne is in the Milestones of Flight Hall William Seger Jul 2021 #13
Built with 25 million dollars of private funding from billionaire Paul Allen. Lancero Jul 2021 #6
Ha, the internet is a funny thing. Jon King Jul 2021 #8
Except little of this is true, it cost $25 mil in 2004 dollars plus many engineers. Jon King Jul 2021 #7
Was that the guy who Art Bell interviewed? YoshidaYui Jul 2021 #9
lol this isn't even true obamanut2012 Jul 2021 #10
It's seventeen years different than Bezos, Musk and Branson. elevator Jul 2021 #12
Actually it was Wozniac. Xoan Jul 2021 #16
Thanks for the post! Mr. Evil Jul 2021 #14
And also, Binnie was just the pilot on the 2nd flight that won them the Ansari X Prize muriel_volestrangler Jul 2021 #15

William Seger

(10,742 posts)
13. SpaceShipOne is in the Milestones of Flight Hall
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 04:52 PM
Jul 2021

... of the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall, and the round-the-world Voyager plane hangs in a gallery above. That's why I didn't quite understand the hoopla over the latest flights.

This exhibition celebrates some of the most significant airplanes, rockets, and spacecraft in history. They tell tales of ingenuity and courage, war and peace, politics and power, as well as society and culture. These milestones have made our planet smaller and the universe larger.

Among the achievements celebrated here: Charles Lindbergh's solo trip across the Atlantic in his Spirit of St. Louis; the first American jet aircraft, the Bell XP-59A Airacomet; the Bell X-1 in which "Chuck" Yeager first broke the mythical "sound barrier;" the Mercury capsule Friendship 7 flown by John Glenn; Mariner, Pioneer, and Viking planetary explorers; and the first privately-developed, piloted vehicle to reach space, SpaceShipOne.

https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/boeing-milestones-flight-hall

Lancero

(2,979 posts)
6. Built with 25 million dollars of private funding from billionaire Paul Allen.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 04:26 PM
Jul 2021

Quite the expensive toy, eh?

Jon King

(1,910 posts)
8. Ha, the internet is a funny thing.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 04:32 PM
Jul 2021

How myths like this being built by one guy in his garage get started is comical.

Jon King

(1,910 posts)
7. Except little of this is true, it cost $25 mil in 2004 dollars plus many engineers.
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 04:31 PM
Jul 2021

It was a joint venture of several companies and hundreds of engineers. Costs were a minimum of $25 million in 2004 dollars and that does not include thousands of free engineering hours donated.

So the true cost in today's dollars was likely around $40 million.

obamanut2012

(25,906 posts)
10. lol this isn't even true
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 04:42 PM
Jul 2021

He had over $25 million from Paul Allen to build it, and the guy whose "garage" he built it in was an aero executive. This is literally no different than Beezos, Branson, and Musk. Not an ole shucks! This regular joe built a rocket in his bud's garage!

I loathe Steve Jobs, but he actually built stuff in his parents' garage. Not this dude.

Mr. Evil

(2,746 posts)
14. Thanks for the post!
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 04:55 PM
Jul 2021

I remember this. I was also amazed that they used old ground up tires as fuel. So cool!

muriel_volestrangler

(101,149 posts)
15. And also, Binnie was just the pilot on the 2nd flight that won them the Ansari X Prize
Sat Jul 24, 2021, 06:26 PM
Jul 2021

The pilot on the first run into "space", and the 1st of the 2 flights that were close enough together to get the Ansari X Prize was Mike Melvill. I presume this detail is buried somewhere in the 1h49m video, but it's easier to see from the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne . You may as well mention both pilots, if it's credit for pilots you want to give out.

And, for that matter, the control surfaces were electrically controlled, not just "by cables and pulleys, like a WWI biplane", as Wikipedia says, and Rutan too:

After the flight — the first time a civilian flew a private craft into space — pilot Mike Melvill said a control needed to steer SpaceShipOne at supersonic speeds malfunctioned.
...
But in a telephone interview Tuesday, Rutan said the “flight-control anomaly” on June 21 “was not serious.” The problem, he said, had been traced to an actuator — a device that drives flaps and other aircraft control surfaces.

https://www.wired.com/2004/07/spaceshipone-back-on-course/

And if the Wikipedia entry is basically correct,

The core of the spacecraft avionics is the System Navigation Unit (SNU). Together with the Flight Director Display (FDD), it comprises the Flight Navigation Unit. The unit was developed jointly by Fundamental Technology Systems and Scaled Composites.

The SNU is a GPS-based inertial navigation system, which processes spacecraft sensor data and subsystem health data. It downlinks telemetry data by radio to mission control.

The FDD displays data from the SNU on a color LCD. It has several distinct display modes for different phases of flight, including the boost phase, coast, reentry, and gliding. The FDD is particularly important to the pilot during the boost and coast phase in order to "turn the corner" and null rates caused by asymmetric thrust. A mix of commercial and bespoke software is used in the FDD.

So, yeah, computer control. Because you have to, really.
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Back in 2004, Brian Binni...