Posted: Mon, Sep 8, 2003, 8:42 AM ET (1242 GMT)
SpaceShipOne, the suborbital RLV being developed for the X Prize, completed its second successful drop test late last month. The spacecraft was dropped from its carrier aircraft, White Knight, on August 27 while flying 13,000 meters above the Mojave Desert. SpaceShipOne glided to a runway landing ten and a half minutes after deployment. The drop test was the first test of the vehicle's unique ability to feather, or raise, its tail section. This maneuver will be performed by the spacecraft during its initial descent on suborbital flights, allowing the vehicle to maintain a stable configuration during descent with little need for active guidance. During this test flight SpaceShipOne flew in the fully-feathered configuration for about 70 seconds.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne information