SpaceShipOne Wins $10 Million Prize

“The world’s first privately funded manned spacecraft soared to the blackened frontiers of space for the second time in a week on Monday, setting set a new altitude record and clinching a $10 million prize designed to spur commercial space travel

SpaceShipOne, a stubby, three-seat rocket plane, hurtled to a height of 367,442 feet surpassing its target altitude without the heart-stopping barrel rolls that vexed the craft’s qualifying flight on Wednesday.

The triumphant flight, which took place on the anniversary of the 1957 Sputnik launch, also eclipsed the world altitude record for a fixed-wing aircraft, set in 1963 by the experimental X-15 rocket plane.

‘We are proud to announce that SpaceShipOne has made two flights to 100 kilometers (62 miles) and has won the Ansari X Prize,’ space enthusiast Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize competition, told reporters at Mojave airport.”