SPACESHIP ONE PICS FROM THIS MORNING: Last night an InstaPundit reader emailed:
Spaceship One touched down earlier this evening at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on its way to its final resting place at the Smithsonian. Employees at Wright-Patt had the opportunity to watch it and White Knight touch down, take pictures, and listen to pilot Mike Melvill speak. Its final flight is tomorrow morning. I have pictures from its touchdown today and will be taking more as it takes off tomorrow.
She offered to send photos. I said yes, of course, so here they are, followed by a report.
The report, condensed from several emails accompanying the pictures, follows in the “extended entry” area. Click “read more” to read it.
UPDATE: Jim Zellmer has video. Cool!
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A couple of notes:
– Mr. Melvill said that he started wondering if the President had just touched down before him due to the continuous applause he got when he arrived.
– He expects that it will be another 4-5 years before Spaceship Two is up and running.
– He expects that it will be 15-20 years before they manage orbital flight, rather than just suborbital.
– He thought it was quite appropriate to touch down in the same area that the Wright brothers are from.
I wish I had a tape recorder to get the rest of his speech, short though it was. I also wish I’d thought to bring pen and paper to get an autograph. I doubt I’ll get the chance tomorrow morning before he takes off. The press was there, so you might be able to find out more of what he said by going to local Dayton-area news sites (Dayton area includes Fairborn, Kettering, Riverside, and Beavercreek).
A couple more things that I forgot to mention from his speech:
– He said that he hit up to 3 G’s and felt it all in his eyeballs.
– It cost about $26 million – “Less than the landing gear of one of NASA’s shuttles. And no, we did not work with NASA at all, nor did they work with us.”
– He couldn’t say much specifically about the technology because it belonged to Paul Allen. He did say that they used “featherlight” (at least that’s what it sounded like) insulation, which isn’t the same as NASA uses. It didn’t have a chance to heat up Spaceship One because they weren’t in the atmosphere long enough for it
– He said he let M&Ms float around in zero-g, rather than a pen, because if M&Ms got stuck in the controls, they could be crushed. Zero-g lasted 4-5 minutes.
– He had a good sense of humor, was patient and comprehensive when answering questions, and seemed to enjoy talking to the younger kids when a bunch of them surrounded him and asked for his autograph.
It’s a beautiful bird, if a bit odd looking. It’ll be hung right by “Glamorous Glennis,” the Bell X-1 that Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier with.
Mike Melvill spoke again this morning at the Wright Brothers Memorial – about the same as what he said yesterday. He did say more specifically that Spaceship One will be hung between Glamorous Glennis and the Spirit of St. Louis. After about fifteen minutes, he left to get ready to take off. They took off about an hour late, and between tree cover and the airfield being far enough away that everything was a bit blurry – you barely saw they were coming in time to raise your camera. It was a quick flyby, but fairly close. Maybe I’m weird to say this, but it was beautiful. Sitting in the heat and sun (and turning bright pink) was worth it. I was surprised both yesterday and this morning how few people were there, but when I asked around at work, it turns out most people didn’t know about it.
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I certainly didn’t.