spacetoday.net: Rutan announces SS1 flight plans

Posted: Wed, Jun 2, 2004, 2:11 PM ET (1811 GMT)
SpaceShipOne on 7th glide flight (Scaled Composites)

SpaceShipOne, the suborbital vehicle developed by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, will fly into space for the first time on Monday, June 21, the company announced Wednesday. SpaceShipOne will fly to an altitude of at least 100 kilometers, a widely-accepted boundary of space, on the flight. If successful, it would make SpaceShipOne the first privately-developed manned suborbital spacecraft to fly into space. The pilot of SpaceShipOne on this flight will be announced at a later date; Brian Binnie and Mike Melvill have both flown SpaceShipOne on powered test flights previously. SpaceShipOne has flown three previous powered test flights, including one in May where the vehicle flew to over 60 km altitude. Wednesday's announcement is a break in the tight veil of secrecy that has surrounded the program during its development and previous test flights, which have not been previously announced to the public. Scaled said the public will be invited to witness this flight.