Burt Rutan/Scaled Composites first private Sub-orbital flight, June 21, 2004

At 6:30 am on Monday, June 21st, Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites made history with the first private sub-orbital space launch. I was fortunate enough to see it firsthand!

My buddy David and I rode our motorcycles down to the Mojave desert from the San Jose area the night before. We stayed in Lancaster, CA and headed to the flight center at 5:00 Monday morning.

The day was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and minimal winds. The conditions for the flight were optimal, and the White Knight mother ship took off with SpaceShipOne, the sub-orbital craft right on schedule.

It taxied past us, then turned back and took off towards the mountains. We watched it spiral up to 50,000 feet, then heard over the loudspeaker that a historic call had been made- The SpaceShipOne requested permission to land. Of course, since once it detached from the White Knight and flew to 62 miles up, it would come down whether it had permission or not (gravity being what it is).

With the sun as a backdrop (from our vantage point), SpaceShipOne dropped from the White Knight, and took off straight up. A few minutes later, it could be seen spiralling in, with the chase planes in formation. After it landed, the chase planes and White Knight made some exhibition passes by the crowd before coming in themselves.

The flight was magnificent, and I'm glad I was there to witness a little bit of history in the making.

See a News Clip for more information.

Windmills by Mojave Spaceport	My buddy David	The growing crowd	Libertarian enthusiasm	Outside Rutan's hangar	White Knight and SpaceShipOne taxis
White Knight and SpaceShipOne taxis	Getting ready to take off	Getting ready to take off	Getting ready to take off	Accelerating on the runway	Video: 1.4MB Accelerating on the runway
There she goes!	There she goes!	There she goes!	There she goes!	There she goes!	There she goes!
Spiralling up	Spiralling up	Spiralling up	Spiralling up	Spiralling up	Spiralling up
Spiralling up	Rutan chase plane	White Knight and chase plane	David and White Knight	White Knight and chase plane	White Knight and chase plane
White Knight at altitude	Chase Plane at altitude	Preparing to separate	Preparing to separate	Preparing to separate	Preparing to separate
SpaceShipOne ascending rapidly!	SpaceShipOne ascending rapidly!	SpaceShipOne ascending rapidly!	SpaceShipOne ascending rapidly!	SpaceShipOne ascending rapidly!	SpaceShipOne ascending rapidly!
Video: 219kb SpaceShipOne heading for history	Unencumbered White Knight	Unencumbered White Knight	SpaceShipOne and chase planes	SpaceShipOne and chase planes	SpaceShipOne and chase planes
SpaceShipOne and chase planes	SpaceShipOne and chase planes	SpaceShipOne and chase planes	SpaceShipOne and chase planes	SpaceShipOne and chase planes	SpaceShipOne and chase planes
Spiralling down	Spiralling down	Spiralling down	Spiralling down	Spiralling down	Chase planes showing off
The formation approaches	The formation approaches	The formation approaches	The formation approaches	The formation approaches	The formation approaches
The formation approaches	Touchdown!	White Knight flyby	White Knight flyby	White Knight flyby	White Knight flyby
White Knight flyby	White Knight flyby	White Knight flyby	Chase plane formation flyby	Chase plane formation flyby	Chase plane formation flyby
Outdated sign - Now "Spaceport!"