SpaceShipOne Flies to Space and Wins the X-Prize

By Fraser Cain - October 4, 2004 at 4:37 AM UTC | Space Exploration

SpaceShipOne flew to space Monday morning, for the second time in less than a week. This time, though it came back down $10 million richer, taking the Ansari X-Prize. Pilot Brian Bennie guided the suborbital spacecraft to an altitude of more than 114 km (368,000 feet) after taking off from the Mojave Spaceport in California. Today's flight was completely smooth, without the terrifying series of barrel rolls at the highest point. Monday's flight was so high that it even beat records set by NASA's X-15 aircraft 40 years ago.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today, founding the website in March 1999. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast.