SpaceShipOne up-close
A model of the famous spacecraft finds a home.
By
Dick McNally —
Published:
July 31, 2006 This mockup of SpaceShipOne is now on permanent display at The Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) Airventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Photo by Dick McNally |
July 31, 2006
A full-size mockup of SpaceShipOne, Burt Rutan's record-breaking private manned spacecraft, was dedicated at The Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) Airventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, July 25.
The operational version of the rocket blasted into the record books in October 2004, when it exceeded an altitude of 328,000 feet twice within the span of 14 days. For that feat, Rutan's design company, Scaled Composites, received the $10,000,000 Ansari X-Prize.
The mockup, dedicated during Airventure, EAA's annual fly-in, was made from the molds of the original spacecraft, which is displayed at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington. While SpaceShipOne's Mach-3 trip into space was impressive, the vehicle carried only a pilot. Rutan's goal is to develop a new craft that will take tourists on suborbital flights safely and at a low relative cost. |