10 days and counting to 10 million

**Trout** · September 29th, 2004, 11:07 AM

CONGRATS to Rutan,
Flight 1 of Xprize Is A Success !!

**jitBob** · September 29th, 2004, 11:16 AM

Sweeeet!!!

**Camaro80z** · September 29th, 2004, 11:16 AM

What?

**Ya_know** · September 29th, 2004, 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by Camaro80z

What?

Did a google search and found this:

http://www.xprize.org/teams/

I am guessing that's what the topic is here...

**Trout** · September 29th, 2004, 11:37 AM

Updated: 12:01 PM EDT
Private Rocket Recovers, Enters Space
SpaceShipOne Climbs to Unofficial Altitude 62 Miles on Quest for $10 Million Prize
By JOHN ANTCZAK, AP

MOJAVE, Calif. (Sept. 29) - After recovering from a wild corkscrew roll on its ascent, the first private manned rocket soared to space and returned safely to Earth on Wednesday in a bid to earn a $10 million prize.

SpaceShipOne, with astronaut Michael Melvill at the controls, climbed to an unofficial altitude of more than 330,000 feet, about 2,000 feet above its target altitude of 62 miles.

Dick Rutan, whose brother Burt Rutan helped design the ship, said radar indicated that the plane reached its target.

''They made the altitude,'' he said.

Confirmation on whether it reached the desired altitude was expected later in the day.

The specially designed jet with SpaceShipOne under its belly took off at 7:12 a.m. from the airport in the desert north of Los Angeles and began its climb. The ship dropped away from its mother ship above Mojave Airport, fired its rocket and pulled into a vertical climb. The ship rolled more than two dozen times before steadying to its target altitude. It then began a gliding descent and landed at 8:33 a.m.

Just announced but not confirmed, Monday Oct 4th The Money Shot takes place

I watched the Webcast from take-off until touchdown. Live shots IN FLIGHT were incredable to say the least.
As far as I can tell,, those who may have missed it will be able to view the archive footage Xprize