FYI,

"SpaceShipOne Wins $10 Million Prize with Flight"
Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&cid=585&e=3&u=/nm/20041004/sc_nm/space_xprize_dc

: 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 a new altitude record and clinching a $10 million
: prize designed to spur commercial space travel.

: 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.

: Thousands of spectators gathered beside the runway cheered as the
: craft glided back to the floor of California's desert for a
: textbook landing.

: Also present were aircraft designer Burt Rutan, Microsoft Corp.
: co-founder Paul Allen, who financed the venture at a cost of over
: $20 million, and British entrepreneur Richard Branson, who has
: licensed the SpaceShipOne design for a series of future commercial
: flights.

: Binnie said that as he became weightless he did pulled out a paper
: model of SpaceShipOne and let it free fall in the cockpit with him
: as he snapped pictures. "There's a freedom there and a sense of
: wonder that, I tell you what, you all need to experience," he said.

: Binnie became only the second civilian pilot to obtain his
: astronaut's wings. The first was Mike Melvill, who flew the first
: successful qualifying flight of SpaceShipOne on Wednesday that was
: marked by a series of unplanned vertical rolls.

: Rutan said the victory by his team, one of 26 that had competed for
: the X Prize, was just the start of developing "a manned tourism
: system ... that's at least a hundred times safer than anything
: that's ever flown man to space."

: Diamandis also announced a new competition -- the X Prize Cup --
: offering awards for altitude, distance and speed records achieved
: by a new generation of civilian space ventures. He said the
: competition would get under way in 2006.

: Hotel mogul Robert Bigelow told Reuters that he would put up
: $25 million toward a $50 million prize for the first privately
: built, manned craft to reach orbital flight.

: Rutan said SpaceShipOne could still be used as a test plane in
: preparation for the launches planned by Branson's company, Virgin
: Galactic.

: Rutan and others have said their ultimate goal is to bring the cost
: of a space flight for passengers down to the price of a low-cost
: car.

----------

"Rocket Wins $10M Prize for Trip to Space"
Associated Press
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&cid=1894&e=2&u=/ap/20041005/ap_on_sc/private_spaceship

: A stout, star-spangled rocket plane broke through the Earth's
: atmosphere to the edge of space Monday for the second time in five
: days, capturing a $10 million prize aimed at opening the final
: frontier to tourists.

: The privately built SpaceShipOne took off underneath the belly of a
: mother plane that carried it about nine miles over the Mojave
: Desert. From there, SpaceShipOne fired its engine and streaked
: skyward at about three times the speed of sound on a half-hour
: flight that took it more than 62 miles high, generally considered
: the point where space begins.

: SpaceShipOne — with test pilot Brian Binnie at the controls — then
: glided safely back to Earth.

: "This is the true frontier of transportation," said Marion C.
: Blakey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, who stood near
: the runway to watch the flight. "It feels a little bit like Kitty
: Hawk must have."

: Binnie called it a "fantastic experience" — especially the sight of
: Earth from space. "There is darkness outside the windows," he
: said. "It's contrasted starkly by the bright pearl that is the
: greater California area, which is the view from up there."

: The reward for the achievement is the $10 million Ansari X Prize,
: created in 1996 to kick-start the development of privately built
: rocket ships that could make spaceflight available to the public.

: About an hour after the spaceship landed, X Prize founder Peter
: Diamandis said the altitude was official, and declared
: SpaceShipOne's team the winner.

: X Prize chief judge Rick Searfoss said the spacecraft reached a
: height of 367,442 feet and speeds of Mach 3.09 during ascent and
: Mach 3.26 on the way down.

: During the post-flight news conference, SpaceShipOne designer Burt
: Rutan took a few shots at the traditional aerospace community.

: "The big guys, the Boeings, the Lockheeds and the naysaying people
: at Houston ... I think they are looking at each other now and
: saying, `We're screwed,'" Rutan said.

: Major funding for the prize came from the Ansari family of Dallas.
: Diamandis hoped the St. Louis-based Ansari X Prize would have the
: same effect on space travel as the Orteig Prize had on air travel
: more than 80 years ago. Charles Lindbergh claimed that $25,000
: prize in 1927 after making his solo trans-Atlantic flight.

: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who put more than $20 million into
: the project, watched Monday's flight from the control room.

: "Your heart goes straight to your throat," he said.

: The total cost of the project has not been released, but Rutan
: jokingly noted to Allen on Monday that the $10 million prize
: covered 40 percent of Allen's costs. That would make Allen's
: investment $25 million.

: The prize money will be spread among the employees of Rutan's
: company, Scaled Composites, Rutan said.

: White House press secretary Scott McClellan said President Bush
: called to congratulate the SpaceShipOne team.

: "He thanked the entire team for their leadership and vision, and
: for their important contributions to space flight," McClelland
: said.

: SpaceShipOne's effort has drawn high-level attention from the U.S.
: government, and comes at a time when others are preparing for space
: tourism.

: Last week, Richard Branson, the British airline mogul and
: adventurer, announced that beginning in 2007, he will begin
: offering paying customers flights into space. Branson said he had a
: deal, worth up to $25 million over 15 years, to license the
: technology that led to SpaceShipOne. Fares will start at more than
: $200,000.

: Patti Grace Smith, associate administrator for the FAA's office of
: commercial space transportation, said the excitement around the
: X Prize has begun to draw the interest of the investment community.

: "I'm starting to get calls from brokers. That's brand new," she
: said.

: Thousands of space enthusiasts and reporters gathered to watch on
: Monday as SpaceShipOne — with a plump fuselage and spindly wings
: 16 1/2 feet across — ascended into calm, clear skies on a chilly
: morning that saw the dawn bathed in pink hues.

: Binnie, a graduate of the Navy test pilot school, was at the
: controls when SpaceShipOne broke the sound barrier for the first
: time on a December test flight, which was marred when the craft hit
: the runway hard upon landing and veered into the brush, where a
: landing gear collapsed. This time his landing was flawless.

: Word of Binnie's accomplishment was relayed by NASA to the two men
: aboard the international space station, astronaut Mike Fincke and
: cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.

: "Fantastic," Fincke said, adding that it was great to learn that
: for a while he and Padalka were not "the only ones off the planet."

--------

"SpaceDev Powers SpaceShipOne to Historic Heights as Well as the
Ansari X-Prize Victory"
SpaceDev Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/041004/45843_1.html

: SpaceDev's (OTCBB: SPDV - News) hybrid propulsion technology helped
: propel Scaled Composites/Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne into space
: flight history as the craft garnered the $10 Million Ansari
: X Prize, a contest created to stimulate the development of the
: private sector human space flight industry. SpaceDev, a provider of
: several critical components and technology for the craft's motor,
: including igniter, injector and main operating valve, successfully
: performed as expected and powered SpaceShipOne on today's historic
: manned flight. SpaceShipOne exceeded the altitude requirement on
: both scheduled flights as required by the Ansari X Prize
: competition.

: The hybrid propulsion system burned full duration. According to
: Scaled Composites reports, pilot Brian Binnie steered SpaceShipOne
: high above the Mojave, California desert to a high of 368,000 feet
: altitude (62 miles). That exceeded the required 328,000 feet
: altitude - a sky-high goal required by the X Prize Foundation of
: St. Louis, Missouri. The altitude is generally considered to be the
: threshold of space.

: Jim Benson, SpaceDev's founding chairman and chief executive
: officer said, "This win signifies what we have been saying for some
: time. Space flight will now undergo a microcomputer revolution,
: with SpaceDev helping to revolutionize the $100 billion space
: industry with hybrid-based propulsion systems for delivering cargo
: and people to space, safely and affordably."

: The Ansari X Prize was designed to jumpstart the space tourism
: industry through competition among the most talented entrepreneurs
: and rocket experts in the world. SpaceShipOne was built and
: launched with private funds. The craft was also able to carry
: equivalent weight of three people to 100 kilometers (62.5 miles)
: and return safely to earth. The competition follows in the
: footsteps of more than 100 aviation incentive prizes offered
: between 1905 and 1935 credited with spawning today's multibillion-
: dollar air transport industry.

: "Today's news moves the private space community infinitely closer
: to realizing its vision of creating safe, affordable, commercial
: human space flight. We are thrilled that we are an integral part of
: this team and we remain very focused on powering passenger flights
: in the very near future," adds Mr. Benson.

Mark Reiff