Sunday, 20. June 2004

SPACE RACE LIFTS OFF


Motels for miles around will be filled. Campers will line the roads in competition for the best viewing spot. Traffic will be a mess. It's not the old Cape Canaveral, but it will seem like it. CNN will broadcast live the first attempt to launch a general aviation pilot into space out of Mojave, California. The launch aircraft with SpaceShipOne underneath will taxi from its hangar at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time on Monday, June 21. The goal is 328,084 feet (100 kilometers), the altitude at which "space" officially begins. Monday's flight will not orbit the Earth, however. SpaceShipOne, a craft built by Burt Rutan and the team of Vulcan, Inc., funded by Vulcan owner Paul G. Allen, made it to 211,400 feet on May 13. There are 500 media representatives signed up to cover Monday's event.

xprize.org space tourism

... Comment