History in the Making
 

At 9:00am EST the first space flight with a non government funded space vehicle and a civilian pilot will travel into space.

Consult your favorite website or news channel to watch.

kewl :D

Soon a trip to the moon will be as common as a vacation to the Bahamas :)

I've been in outer space for years. :D

Hmmm…

Looks like I should turn on CNN...as opposed to my security cameras :)

That's pretty cool:)

DD

The real test is yet to come -
They have to get Back to Space within 2 weeks.
If they can do that, they are 10Million richer :)

Full story from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/0...est/index.html

Not quite, dare. This was merely a test flight. To win the X Prize they have to do two launches within two weeks with a pilot and the equivalent weight of two passengers past the 62mile barrier.

They encountered a "glitch" during the flight that threw the pilot 22mi off course in just a few seconds. They said they will have to analyse this malfunction before they officially schedule the X Prize launches.

Still *very* cool stuff! I've been watching the progression of the X Prize contestants for years hoping for a day like today. |bananna|

When they plan to go for the X Prize they will schedule 3 launches in two weeks. In case there is a malfunction in one of the launches.

I stand corrected!
Though being a test pilot, even a 60+ year old one, that has to be a simply amazing view.

No doubt. It's been the dream of just about every test pilot ever, excepting Chuck Yeager, to go to space. Pretty funny that at 63 he can fly into space but the Airline Pilot's Association would force him to retire at 56...

I wonder which studio has already bought the movie rights? Harrison Ford to play the test pilot. :)