Posted: Wed, Sep 29, 2004, 8:45 AM ET (1245 GMT)
Mike Melvill, the pilot who flew SpaceShipOne on its historic suborbital spaceflight in June, will fly the vehicle again Wednesday morning, Ansari X Prize officials announced hours before the flight. The selection of the pilot for the first of two flights was shrouded in secrecy prior to the announcement; Rutan himself declined to identify the pilot during a press briefing Tuesday afternoon. Melvill flew SpaceShipOne on June 21, piloting the suborbital spacecraft to just above the 100-km boundary of space. After the flight Melvill hinted that he did not plan to fly the vehicle again, letting one of two other Scaled Composites pilots fly the vehicle on its two X Prize qualifying flights. Takeoff of SpaceShipOne and its White Knight carrier aircraft is scheduled for approximately 9:45 am EDT (1345 GMT), with launch scheduled for about one hour later.

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