Private Rocket Ship Aims for Space Prize in Calif

[Khephra]

MOJAVE, Calif. (Reuters) - A three-seat rocket plane with stubby wings and a nose studded with round windows will try to blast out of Earth's atmosphere above the Mojave desert on Wednesday to qualify for a $10-million prize designed to spur commercial space travel.

The Ansari X Prize will go to the first team to build a spacecraft without government help, launch three people or their weight equivalent at least 62 miles straight up, then repeat the feat with the same craft within two weeks.

SpaceShipOne, the first to try for the prize, was built by aircraft designer Burt Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, and financed by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen.

The venture cost $20 million to $30 million, a small fraction of the cost of similar government space programs.

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=6360584

[bill]

1. and they're off...

White knight and Spaceship One have taken of and are heading to 46,000' for launch.

you can watch the webcast {link:web1-xprize.primary.net/cool_stuff/index.php|HERE] the link is in the upper right-hand corner.