Flight 17P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight in the Tier One program that took place on October 4, 2004. It was the second competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition to demonstrate a non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft, and is hence also referred to as the X2 flight. It was a successful flight, winning the X Prize. SpaceShipOne test pilot Brian Binnie Brian Binnie is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... UTC also stands for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Coordinated Universal Time or UTC, also sometimes referred to as Zulu time, the basis for civil time, differs by an integral number of seconds from atomic time and a fractional number of seconds from UT1. ... SpaceShipOne and White Knight during a captive carry test flight The Scaled Composites Model 318 White Knight is a jet-powered carrier aircraft used to launch the SpaceShipOne experimental spacecraft. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A sub-orbital spaceflight (or sub-orbital flight) is a spaceflight that does not involve putting a vehicle into orbit. ... SpaceShipOne is small, having a three-person cabin and short but wide wings. ... Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer-Earth objects and generally anything that involves the technologies, science, and politics regarding space endeavors. ... Tier One is Scaled Composites program of suborbital human spaceflight using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne and its launcher White Knight. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The X prize logo shows a stylised letter X representing a spacecraft trajectory and containing a starfield. ...

Scheduling

To win the X Prize, a spacecraft needed to make two successful competitive flights within 14 days. SpaceShipOne made a successful competitive flight on September 29, 2004, and so needed to make a second by October 13, 2004 in order to win. Scaled Composites aimed to be able to fly three times within the two weeks in order to allow for a failed flight. September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The date of the flight, October 4, 2004, was the 47th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. SpaceShipOne's first powered flight was, in a similar vein, on the 100th anniversary of the first ever powered flight by the Wright Brothers. October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to be launched into orbit, on October 4, 1957. ... A satellite is an object that orbits another object (known as its primary). ... In physics, an orbit is the path that an object makes, around another object, whilst under the influence of a source of centripetal force, such as gravity. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third planet outward from the Sun. ... Flight 11P of SpaceShipOne was its eighth independent flight, its first powered flight, and the first privately-funded manned flight to reach supersonic speeds. ... First flight, December 17, 1903. ...

The da Vinci Project, another X Prize contender, planned to make its first competitive flight on October 2, 2004, which might have caused a race to develop, affecting the scheduling. However, they encountered problems and had to delay their flights. Tier One was therefore able to follow their original flight schedule. Scaled Composites reported that they could have turned the spacecraft around faster than the five days they actually allowed for it. The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... October 2nd is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

It was anticipated by observers that Mike Melvill, the pilot on both previous spaceflights by SpaceShipOne, would pilot this flight also. This expectation was not supported by any real evidence, but was based on Melvill's prior experience. On the morning of the flight it was announced that Brian Binnie would be the pilot. SpaceShipOne test pilot Mike Melvill Michael W. Melvill (born November 1941) is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. ... In human spaceflight, a pilot is someone who directly controls the operation of a spacecraft while located within the same craft. ... SpaceShipOne test pilot Brian Binnie Brian Binnie is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. ...

Manifest

Under Ansari X Prize rules, the flight was required to carry 180 kg payload, to simulate two 90 kg human passengers. Whereas Scaled Composites stated that the first competitive flight would not carry passengers, it did not make any such statement about later competitive flights. It seemed possible that Burt Rutan would be a passenger on flight 17P, but in the end he was not, possibly due to the roll excursion on flight 16P. The payload included: The X prize logo shows a stylised letter X representing a spacecraft trajectory and containing a starfield. ... The international prototype, made of platinum-iridium, which is kept at the BIPM under conditions specified by the 1st CGPM in 1889. ... In cargo transport, payload is the valuable contents of the vehicle. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Human beings define themselves in biological, social, and spiritual terms. ... A passenger is a person using but not operating an airplane, train, bus or other mode of transport. ... Flight 16P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight in the Tier One program that took place on September 29, 2004. ... Elbert L. Burt Rutan (born June 17, 1943) is an aircraft designer known for designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. ...

• X Prize flight monitoring equipment, known as the "gold box"
• the Explorers Club flag, by arrangement between the Explorers Club and the X PRIZE Foundation

The same logos were carried as on flight 16P: The Explorers Club is international organzation formed by the survivors of Frederick Cooks 1894 Arctic expedition. ... The X PRIZE Foundation is the non-profit organization operating the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million competition designed to encourage private exploration of space. ... Flight 16P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight in the Tier One program that took place on September 29, 2004. ...

• Scaled Composites
• "SpaceShipOne: a Paul G. Allen project" on SpaceShipOne
• "White Knight" on White Knight
• Virgin Galactic, on the tails
• Virgin, on the fuselage
• Ansari X Prize, as required by X Prize rules
• The Spirit of St. Louis, a science center
• M&Ms
• 7-Up Plus
• Champ Car World Series

Scaled Composites (often abbreviated as Scaled) was founded in 1982 in Mojave, California by famous aircraft designer Burt Rutan out of what used to be the Rutan Aircraft Factory. ... Virgin Galactic is a company in Richard Bransons Virgin Group, which plans to offer spaceflights to the paying public. ... The Virgin Group is the group of companies using the Virgin brand of British celebrity business tycoon Sir Richard Branson. ... The X prize logo shows a stylised letter X representing a spacecraft trajectory and containing a starfield. ... Plain M&Ms M&Ms are small, milk chocolate candy pieces popular in the United States and in many other countries around the world. ... A can of 7 Up. ... -1...

Flight profile

All times are in PDT, which is seven hours behind UTC. This was the local civil time at the spaceport on the day of the flight. All measurements are first stated in the Imperial units in which they were originally reported, with conversions to SI units also given. Time Zone is also a historical computer game. ... UTC also stands for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Coordinated Universal Time or UTC, also sometimes referred to as Zulu time, the basis for civil time, differs by an integral number of seconds from atomic time and a fractional number of seconds from UT1. ... The Imperial units are an irregularly standardized system of units that have been used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including the Commonwealth countries. ... The International System of Units (abbreviated SI from the French phrase, Système International dUnités) is the most widely used system of units. ...

The SpaceShipOne pilot was Brian Binnie. White Knight was piloted by Mike Melvill. In human spaceflight, a pilot is someone who directly controls the operation of a spacecraft while located within the same craft. ... SpaceShipOne test pilot Brian Binnie Brian Binnie is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. ... SpaceShipOne and White Knight during a captive carry test flight The Scaled Composites Model 318 White Knight is a jet-powered carrier aircraft used to launch the SpaceShipOne experimental spacecraft. ... SpaceShipOne test pilot Mike Melvill Michael W. Melvill (born November 1941) is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. ...

Taxiing, scheduled for 06:30, began at 06:36. Takeoff from Mojave Spaceport, scheduled for 07:00, took place at 06:49. White Knight then carried SpaceShipOne to the launch altitude, in excess of 43,500 feet (13.3 km). SpaceShipOne separated from White Knight at 07:49, and promptly ignited its rocket. The Mojave Spaceport, also known as the Mojave Airport and Civilian Flight Test Center, is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer, symbol: km) is a unit of length equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words khilia = thousand and metro = count/measure). ... A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program A rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving exhaust gas from within a rocket engine. ...

The rocket motor was capable of burning for approximately 87 s. The burn-out altitude was in excess of 200,000 feet (61 km). After burn-out the craft continued to coast upwards. The wing was feathered, into high-drag configuration, during the coasting phase. The spacecraft coasted to apogee at an altitude of 367,442 feet (111.996 km), well in excess of the X Prize target altitude. It also broke the record altitude of 354,200 feet (107.96 km) for a rocket plane, set by the X-15 in 1963. The second (symbol s) is a unit for time, and one of seven SI base units. ... A rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket for propulsion, possibly in addition to jet engines. ... Description Role: Research Aircraft Crew: one, pilot Dimensions Length: 50. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

After apogee, SpaceShipOne reentered the atmosphere in its feathered configuration, and then changed to gliding configuration at 07:57. SpaceShipOne then glided back to the spaceport, deployed landing gear at 4,200 feet (1.28 km), and landed safely at 08:13. White Knight then landed at 08:19. Atmospheric entry is the transition from the vacuum of space to the atmosphere of any planet or other celestial body. ...

Spectacle

As with SpaceShipOne's previous spaceflights, a large crowd watched from Mojave Spaceport. There was also live television coverage, and various websites provided coverage in their medium of preference. The Mojave Spaceport, also known as the Mojave Airport and Civilian Flight Test Center, is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft. ...

Distinguished attendees included:

• Richard Branson, of Virgin Galactic
• Paul Allen, of Mojave Aerospace Ventures
• Rick Searfoss, chief X Prize judge
• Jerry Pournelle, science-fiction author
• Rick A Lick, special man

Sir Richard Branson during the announcement of the Virgin Express airline which would compete with Ryanair and EasyJet. ... Virgin Galactic is a company in Richard Bransons Virgin Group, which plans to offer spaceflights to the paying public. ... Paul Allen Paul G. Allen (born January 21, 1953) is an entrepreneur who first established himself by co-founding Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates. ... Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV) is a company founded by Paul Allen and Burt Rutan to handle the commercial spinoffs from the Tier One project. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A collection of classic science fiction novels Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology upon society and persons as individuals. ... The word author has several meanings: The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). ...

X Prize

The Ansari X Prize requires that two spaceflights be made by the same spacecraft within two weeks. SpaceShipOne successfully made its first competitive flight (flight 16P) on September 29, 2004. This second successful competitive flight therefore won the X Prize. This was declared by Rick Searfoss, the chief X Prize judge, at a post-flight press briefing. The prize was awarded on November 6, 2004. The X prize logo shows a stylised letter X representing a spacecraft trajectory and containing a starfield. ... Flight 16P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight in the Tier One program that took place on September 29, 2004. ... September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Trivia

Coincidentally, one of the first astronauts, Gordon Cooper, died on the same day that flight 17P took place. Coopers work often had him wearing a helmet and pressure suit as above. ...

External links

• Go for launch! X Prize Foundation announces teams ready to compete for $10 million
• SPACE.com contemporaneous report
• SPACE.com: SpaceShipOne Wins $10 Million Ansari X Prize in Historic 2nd Trip to Space
• Spaceflight Now contemporaneous report
• Spaceflight Now: SpaceShipOne launches for X Prize
• X Prize press release: SpaceShipOne reaches over 360,000 feet to win the $10 million ANSARI X PRIZE
• Aviation Week & Space Technology gives technical details on how roll problem was avoided
• Nuts & Volts Father/Son article pair - Perspective of an experienced engineer and someone who aspires to be an engineer.