First Civilian Astronaut - not

Gareth Slee wrote:

Mike Melvill has become the first person to earn astronaut wings in a
non-government sponsored vehicle, and the first private civilian to fly a
spaceship out of the atmosphere.

Not what I would regard as a feat of either 'astronautics' or a 'spaceship'.
Peak elevation achieved above ground was well below the minimum
required to make even one 'free-fall' orbit around the Earth without
overheating from atmospheric friction with subsequent forced structural
failure and a crash re-entry scenario.

A long way to go yet , despite claims of publicity media !

Ant.

In message , Anthony Stokes
writes


Gareth Slee wrote:

Mike Melvill has become the first person to earn astronaut wings in a
non-government sponsored vehicle, and the first private civilian to fly a
spaceship out of the atmosphere.

Not what I would regard as a feat of either 'astronautics' or a 'spaceship'.
Peak elevation achieved above ground was well below the minimum
required to make even one 'free-fall' orbit around the Earth without
overheating from atmospheric friction with subsequent forced structural
failure and a crash re-entry scenario.
A long way to go yet , despite claims of publicity media !

Which media? They've done exactly what they set out to do. Achieve a
flight that qualifies as "into space" according to FAI rules. The next
small step is to qualify for the X prize. Everyone knows it's a _long_
way from orbit, and it won't be the current White Knight/SpaceShip One
that does that.
--
What have they got to hide? Release the full Beagle 2 report.
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