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LAUNCH!

June 21, 2004 - The age of commercial space exploration began today, with a bold and unconventional reach into the heavens. Conventional wisdom said that only a government could afford the resources necessary to touch the heavens; not so said out-of-the-box thinker and designer Burt Rutan. In billionaire Paul G. Allen, he found a backer, in the Ansari X-Prize he found motivation. The results? A spectacular history-making day in gorgeous Mojave. Journalists all over the world have pontificated on the significance, here I'll let the pictures do the speaking. As someone recently said, it was a good day to be in Mojave!

			The day started early for me, with the arrival of a second Mercy Air 412 to cover any emergencies that might arise during launch activities. Then, it was taxi time!
			The White Knight and SpaceShipOne taxied first, followed by Robert Shearer's Starship chaseplane
		The Starship went first, followed by the White Knight and SS1. The position of the runway and the timing of the mission makes photography difficult, shooting directly into the sun for the first part of the takeoff roll.
		Then it was time to wait, while the White Knight climbed to altitude. Meanwhile, the Dornier Alphajet chase also took off in front of the crowd. In the photo on the left, with the new airport sign, the White Knight's contrail can be seen in the upper left.
		With the crowd looking directly into the sun and listening to the broadcast radio chatter, it was firing time. A roar of applause broke out as the white rocket smoke trail was first seen and rapidly grew in length. At right, White Knight's contrail intersects with SS1's
	Again with the tower sign, SS1 and chases glide overhead inbound for Runway 30. Though the ride from 9 to 62 miles is a mere 80 seconds or so, all told, the ride down takes considerably less time than that going up. One of the chase planes, an aerobatic "Extra", turns on its smoke system in front of the crowd as the trio fly the downwind leg.
	The touchdown in front of the huge crowd was flawless...a perfect ending to such a historic event. For the first time, the ship's name on the side was appended with the tag line, "A Paul G. Allen Project." While talking with a representative of the X-Prize organization, I was told that the flight reportedly reached an altitude of 328,500 feet, or 100.21 kilometers, crossing the internationally-recognized border into space.
		While the ship sat on the runway being secured by the Scaled ground crew, the White Knight did a celebratory pass overhead, and a landing on Runway 26. Bottom left: This is what Mojave is all about - trains, planes, space ships and wind turbines!
			Meanwhile, overhead, the three chase planes passed in review.
		The SpaceShipOne - having truly lived up to its name - is towed to parking in front of the crowd, where pilot Mike Melvill is congratulated as the world's first commercial pilot with astronaut rating.
A day's work done by 9am...the ship is towed back to the shop, astronaut Mike (left) riding on the tailgate. Just another day at the office...and at the airport, when the airport is Mojave!