On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 18:18:07 -0700, Mary Shafer wrote:

On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 11:16:42 -0400, Rick DeNatale
wrote:

I'm probably not going to be the first to post this, but SS1 just landed
after successfully reaching 62 miles altitude!

Little though I want to contradict you, when last I checked the story
the altitude still wasn't confirmed. That was fairly late today.

Cool, isn't it?

Well, I don't know if or when it was confirmed, but the flight was the #1
story on MSNBCs countdown this evening, and they showed the pilot (is it
Mevill or Melvill I've seen it both way) being presented Astronaut wings
ostensibly by an FAI representative.

Did anyone catch exactly what Burt Rutan said about the re-entry mode
being historical. He made a point about it being safer. Of course, it
wouldn't work to dissipate the kinetic energy for an orbital re-entry,
would it?