SpaceShipOne slams the X-Prize

The best report I have seen is this one at CNN -- lots of other links to images and videos. bq. SpaceShipOne achieved its most spectacular flight yet, climbing to an altitude of 377,591 feet (71 1/2 miles), eight miles beyond what was needed to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize. bq. X Prize officials said it set an altitude record exceeding the military X-15's top altitude of 354,200 feet (67 miles) set on August 22, 1963. bq. With a wish of "Good luck and Godspeed," mission control sent the privately funded craft toward space for the second time in a week, the requirements for winning the X Prize. bq. "Today we have made history. Today we go to the stars," said Peter Diamandis, co-founder of the X Prize Foundation. They also have a great quote and story from Burt Rutan: bq. Winning the X Prize with SpaceShipOne is only the beginning for Rutan. bq. "I have a hell of a lot bigger goal now (than NASA)," he said. bq. He is now determined to supply the craft for Virgin Galactic. bq. "I absolutely have to develop a space tourism system that is at least 100 times safer than anything that has flown man into space, and probably significantly more than that," Rutan said. One small step...