NASA astronauts at SpaceShip1 flights?

I understand that NASA astronaut Scott Horowitz and possibly one other
NASA astronaut were in attendance at the first SpaceShip1 suborbital
flight in June. Does anyone know who the unidentified other one was?
Did NASA astronauts attend any of the other SS1 flights?
Thanks in advance!

John Charles
Houston, Texas

From John Charles:
I understand that NASA astronaut Scott Horowitz and possibly one other
NASA astronaut were in attendance at the first SpaceShip1 suborbital
flight in June. Does anyone know who the unidentified other one was?

I'm not sure why you want to know (and I'm not sure why I haven't seen
anyone post an answer) but...

"Space shuttle astronauts Ed Lu and Scott J. "Doc" Horowitz arrived in
this NASA T-38A in the pre-dawn darkness at 5:12 A.M."

"SpaceShipOne made the first privately funded flight to an altitude of
100 kilometers from the Mojave Airport on Monday, June 21."

Reference with photo: http://www.air-and-space.com/SpaceShipOne.htm


Did NASA astronauts attend any of the other SS1 flights?

Bill Readdy was at the X1 flight (along with his boss, Sean O'Keefe,
and Mike Kostelnik).

http://www.space.com/news/nasa_xprize_041001.html


....and if you're interested in former NASA astronauts, I would guess
that there were more than a few. Byron Lichtenberg was co-founder of
the X-Prize. Rick Searfoss was named to the XCOR board of directors.
And then there are those associated with Diamandis' Vomit Comet
business[*]:

"The company's advisory board comprises Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz
Aldrin, shuttle astronauts Kathy Thorton, Robert (Hoot) Gibson,
Charles Walker, Norm Thagard, Sam Durrance and Byron Lichtenberg and
Skylab astronaut Owen Garriott."

http://www.comspacewatch.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15158

Note that on Diamandis' website, it shows a photo of the other Gibson
(Ed). So there appears to be a mistake, unless both Gibsons are
involved. Also, Dennis Tito is on the X-Prize board of trustees. For
the former astros, I don't have specific info on who was at which
SpaceShipOne flight, but here is an article that has a photo of Buzz
Aldrin talking to Burt Rutan in front of SpaceShipOne at Mojave:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077811/

I'm thrilled to see Max Faget standing there with them in that photo.
It has special meaning to me because one of the points that Max Faget
had stressed to me was the fundamental problem of governmental space
programs. He penned it on the back of an envelope for me and I've
saved it as a treasure of mine. I'm sure that Max was able to let go
of his earthly life more peacefully knowing that people like the Rutan
brothers were charting a new course for our future in space.


[ Other references -
http://www.xprize.com/who/board_of_trustees.php
http://www.xcor.com/searfoss.html
http://www.comspacewatch.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15158
http://www.nogravity.com/index.cfm/a...astronauts.htm
]

[*] - As much as I admire Peter Diamandis, I'm disappointed to see the
name he settled on for his new company: Zero Gravity. Even more
messed up is the URL name "nogravity.com". It's amazing to see
Diamandis and Lichtenberg have a US Patent granted with such garbage
intertwined:

http://shurl.org/Zero-GravityCorporation_Patent

One example:
"The present invention relates to a series of modifications to rapidly
convert a cargo aircraft to an aircraft capable of carrying passengers
on reduced gravity (or parabolic) flights."

Looks like the USPTO just threw out the laws of physics. (Maybe they
will now start granting patents for perpetual motion machines.)


Diamandis and Lichtenberg would have done just fine to stick to the
name "Zero-G Corporation" along with the (still active) URL:

www.zerogcorp.com

How sickening that a former NASA astronaut with a doctorate degree,
educated at MIT, is taking people's money while promising "no
gravity". That strikes me as modern day snake oil salesmanship.
Granted, the service provided is sure to be an exceptional experience.
But, like the snake oil, the "Zero Gravity Corporation" doesn't
deliver what they are advertising. And they cannot, because it is
physically impossible.


For anyone who doesn't see the problem with using terms like "zero
gravity" and "micro-gravity", here is an old thread that elaborates:

http://shurl.org/Microgravity_Parable

*

Well that's the extent of what I know regarding astronauts at the
SpaceShipOne flights. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there
were a bunch of others not mentioned here.

Oh, depending on what you meant by "in attendance", you may also want
to count Spanky, who was flying with his sidekick, Gennady:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=14424


~ CT

~ CT:
Thanks!
John Charles
Houston, Texas