SpaceShipOne Busts Sound Barrier

A good way to celebrate the anniversary.

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...ews/121703.htm

They're getting good. Well done to Burt and the team!

..spade.

"Rand Simberg" wrote in message
...
A good way to celebrate the anniversary.

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...ews/121703.htm

This is some of the best news for private space, ever, with a promise of the
best being yet to come.
".spade." wrote in message
...
They're getting good. Well done to Burt and the team!

.spade.

"Rand Simberg" wrote in message
...
A good way to celebrate the anniversary.

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...ews/121703.htm

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...ews/121703.htm

Not only did they break the sound barrier, but they did some tests of
the inflight reconfiguration (is there a less awkward term? Maybe
not, since I'm not particularly aware of other aircraft that have a
similar capability):

He then configured the ship in its high-drag "feathered" shape to
simulate the condition it will experience when it enters the
atmosphere after a space flight. . . . After descending in feathered
flight for about a minute, Brian reconfigured the ship to its
conventional glider shape and flew a 12-minute glide to landing at
Scaled's home airport of Mojave.

Hard to believe this is the first small company supersonic aircraft,
but I can't think of a counterexample.

"Jim Kingdon" wrote in message
news
Hard to believe this is the first small company supersonic aircraft,
but I can't think of a counterexample.

Jim Bede's BD-10. At least two were built and flown. They had a top speed of
930 mph.

-Kim-

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 04:31:10 -0800 (PST), in a place far, far away,
"Kim Keller" made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

"Jim Kingdon" wrote in message
news
Hard to believe this is the first small company supersonic aircraft,
but I can't think of a counterexample.

Jim Bede's BD-10. At least two were built and flown. They had a top speed of
930 mph.

A theoretical top speed perhaps. I don't think they ever achieved it,
or anything close.

h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
A good way to celebrate the anniversary.

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...ews/121703.htm

Woohoo! Great day!

So, Rutan has won the silver, will he now go for the gold?

Josh

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 04:31:10 -0800 (PST), "Kim Keller"
wrote:

"Jim Kingdon" wrote in message
news
Hard to believe this is the first small company supersonic aircraft,
but I can't think of a counterexample.

Jim Bede's BD-10. At least two were built and flown. They had a top speed of
930 mph.

Er, they may well have had, but they never flew anywhere near that
fast. When discussing aircraft, like other vehicles, it's important
to keep actual and predicted number separate.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 04:31:10 -0800 (PST), in a place far, far away,
"Kim Keller" made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

"Jim Kingdon" wrote in message
news
Hard to believe this is the first small company supersonic aircraft,
but I can't think of a counterexample.

Jim Bede's BD-10. At least two were built and flown. They had a top speed of
930 mph.

A theoretical top speed perhaps. I don't think they ever achieved it,
or anything close.

Right-o. At least two BD-10 rekitted themselves inflight arounf Mach 0.8.

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tiero...ews/121703.htm

Woohoo! Great day!

So, Rutan has won the silver, will he now go for the gold?

If I'm not reading too much into
http://www.xprize.org/papers/XPupdate_1203.pdf (page 2), that would
appear to be 6-9 months off.