[edshuck]

From CBS news

A piloted rocket plane has achieved the first privately financed manned flight into space.

Hot, really hot. Maybe they can get a contract to fix the Space telescope.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/17/1

A link with a neat little photo of the vehicle.

[Darkling]

The first non-governmental agency to actually make there and back safely.

Still, it's a long way off X Prise requirements.

[NiteFenix]

I'm still proud that Mark Shuttleworth (A South African IT Business Owner and Millionaire) was the first African in space. Don't hog all the glory damnit!!! :P

[trogg]

Yep, Dirk Rutan (and his team) are definately visionaries.
It was only a couple of years ago that one of his ungainly designs flew around the world without refueling (non stop of course).

I once read an interview with John Lear (Junior?) (son of the guy that invented the Lear Jet and the 8 track cassette tape) where he was saying that in his time in Black Ops they were launching rockets from the belly of a converted Lockhead Tristar passenger plane (a bit like the 3 engined Douglas DC10 for the non plane people).
I cant remember fully (as I read the interview several years ago) but I think the reasoning was that a 'passenger' plane could launch a spy satallite without the ememy (who would be watching places like Cape Caneveral) realising it.

I am just glad that this is being done for peaceful reasons unlike the major advances made in World War 2. Some of the German scientists had some fantastic ideas but unfortunately they had sinister applications, for example, the V1 rocket was eventually developed after the war into the NASA rockets like the Saturn V... the motor of the V2 flying bomb uses a principle which is currently being developed into the pulse/ram jet engines which are set to be the next advance in supersonic aircraft... and these are just a couple.

[edshuck]

Hi Nite Fenix

No no, Space is an acheivement for the world.

I am proud of many things the US has done. But I fullly belive each builds on the advancements of others.

There is nothing we have done from the git-go.

And likewise the failures of the US should serve as guide posts of things to avoid.

What is the company Ariane ? Fantastic.

And who says Boll was not right with his plans to simply "shoot" satellites into orbit, using a large gun. He was killed in a hotel room in Europe while working for Sadaam.

[Penny]

I heard them talking about this on the radio this morning. They said it was something like 10 million dollars to go. Not sure what dollars that was in probably NZ?

I don't know that I could care that much about going myself, but it is pretty cool that they can do it.

[edshuck]

It would be cool.

Can Bush put a security clearance thingy over that.

Bet he is trying.