On June 21, 2004 I was privileged to be a \u201cVIP\u201d when SpaceShipOne first flew into space. Space, according to the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration A\u00e9ronautique Internationale begins at an altitude of 62 miles. Why 62 miles? Theodore von K\u00e1rm\u00e1n calculated that it was at that altitude that a vehicle would have to travel faster than orbital velocity in order to derive sufficient aerodynamic lift from the atmosphere to support itself. <\/p>\n
So, SpaceShipOne was designed to win the Ansari X-Prize of ten million dollars being offered for the first commercial spacecraft capable of carrying three people above that K\u00e1rm\u00e1n line two times within a one week period. And with that flight on June 21, SpaceShipOne demonstrated that it was ready to make an attempt to win that prize.<\/p>\n
The reason I got to witness that first space flight by SpaceShipOne was because I knew someone whose parents just happened to be friends with Burt Rutan, the designer and builder of SpaceShipOne.<\/p>\n
\tFollowing that first launch, I learned that the X-Prize Foundation was looking for volunteers for the next flights\u2014when SpaceShipOne would be attempting to win the Ansari X-Prize. So I applied and the X-Prize Foundation accepted me as a volunteer. This allowed me to participate\u2014in a very small way\u2014in the events surrounding the successful flights of SpaceShipOne on September 29, 2004 and then October 4, 2004 when the Ansari X-Prize was won.<\/p>\n
\tAt the time of these events\u2014now ten years ago\u2014it seemed as if we stood on the verge of commercial spaceflight. Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Records (and so on) was one of the sponsors of SpaceShipOne and after the winning flight he announced the founding of Virgin Galactic, which would build and fly larger versions of SpaceShipOne\u2014to be called SpaceShipTwo\u2014for paying passengers. The cost of a ticket to fly into space was pegged at 250 thousand dollars: certainly well-above what I\u2019d ever be able to afford, but I was certain that the price would eventually drop, for the same reasons that large, flat screen televisions that initially sold only to the very wealthy for twenty-thousand dollars, are now available at Wal-Mart for less than five hundred. Branson was predicting commercial flights of SpaceShipTwo by 2007\u2014only three years later. At the time, anything seemed possible.<\/p>\n
\tTen years have now passed. Commercial flights for paying passengers on SpaceShipTwo have yet to happen, though hundreds have already paid for tickets. The road to commercial space was much rockier than what everyone had anticipated.<\/p>\n
\tVirgin Galactic, and Burt Rutan\u2019s Scaled Composites (the builder of SpaceShipOne) have made tremendous progress. They are currently testing the first of at least five SpaceShipTwos. The V.S.S. Enterprise has performed a series of glide tests and over the last few months has done a series of powered flights\u2014all far short of the K\u00e1rm\u00e1n line. The maximum altitude achieved thus far by the six passenger SpaceShipTwo is only 13.4 miles. <\/p>\n
\tBranson is now predicting that the first commercial flights of SpaceShipTwo will occur by the end of this year\u2014but that is dependent upon the upcoming tests all going well. Rocket science is still hard, and any number of setbacks could occur. For instance, just this past week Virgin Galactic announced that they were going to change the fuel composition for SpaceShipTwo\u2019s rocket engine. There\u2019s no telling whether that will lead to further delays.<\/p>\n
\tThere have been many positive developments. The second SpaceShipTwo, V.S.S Voyager, has been completed (though it has yet to undergo flight tests). The FAA has granted permission for Virgin Galactic to begin flying their SpaceShipTwo spacecraft in New Mexico\u2014matching the agreement that Virgin Galactic already has with the FAA for flying in southern California.<\/p>\n
\tThe approval for flying in New Mexico is important. Although SpaceShipTwo is built and tested at the Mojave Air and Space Port in southern California\u2019s High Desert, southern California will not be the location of Virgin Galactic\u2019s commercial operations. That will be in New Mexico, where Spaceport America has been built from scratch.. It is located in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin in New Mexico just west of the White Sands Missile Range, about 8, 45 miles north of Las Cruces, and 20 miles southeast of Truth or Consequences. Spaceport America was officially declared open on October 18, 2011.Spaceport America includes a ten thousand foot long runway for take offs and landings, and a 110,000 square foot hanger and terminal building. It is now ready for Virgin Galactic to begin using it as their main base of operation. <\/p>\n
\tHowever, Virgin Galactic is not the only user of the spaceport in New Mexico. Several other companies have already launched over twenty suborbital missions. In May 2013, SpaceX signed a three-year lease for land and facilities there to support high-altitude, high-velocity flight testing of the Grasshopper v1.1 reusable launch vehicle, the second-generation of the SpaceX experimental vertical takeoff, vertical landing suborbital technology-demonstrator. SpaceX is using Grasshopper as one-element of a multi-element program to develop Falcon 9\u2019s reusable boosters and second stages. <\/p>\n
\tSo, while commercial tourist space travel didn\u2019t begin as quickly as we had hoped during those heady days of 2004, it remains on track to actually happen.<\/p>\n
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