Hi All,

I have some great news (Space Race 2) on the Ansari X-Prize
competition: SpaceShipOne and a possible competitor.

WHAT IS THE ANSARI X_PRIZE COMPETITION?

It rewards the first team a $10m (£5.7m) prize to send a non-
government, three-person craft over 100km into space, and repeat the
feat in the same craft in two weeks.

1. SpaceShipOne

Burt Rutan, head of the Mojave, California-based Scaled Composites
has given its 60 day notice that it will be making an attempt to win
the Ansari X-Prize competition on September 29 from the Mojave
Spaceport, and then repeating the feat no later than October 13.

http://www.aerospaceguide.net/spaceplanes/spaceshipone.html

2. da Vinci Project

The da Vinci Project is vying with Burt Rutan's craft, and 23 other
teams, to win the $10m (£5.7m) prize.

Canadian astronaut Brian Feeney plans to blast off from a remote
launch site in central Saskatchewan province on October 2, days after
SpaceShipOne is due to make its own bid for the X Prize.

I briefly mention The da Vinci Project in the time line in the 2004
Space Missions page.

http://www.aerospaceguide.net/space/2004.html

If you are interested in spaceplanes, I recommend a very interesting
book on the Dyna-Soar.

http://www.aerospaceguide.net/spacebook/military.html

Take care,
Vic Stathopoulos

- Web Master of AeroSpaceGuide.net
http://www.aerospaceguide.net

and Dialashop.com
http://www.dialashop.com