Private spacecraft readied for historic flight
Spectators stream into Mojave Desert for Monday's test
By Michael Coren
CNN
 |  SpaceShipOne will attempt to reach an altitude of 62.5 miles. |
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|  VIDEO |
 SpaceShipOne's trial flight
 White Knight takes off carrying SpaceShipOne over the Mojave Desert.
 Animation: Spacecraft separates from a turbojet.
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| LAUNCH DETAILS | What: SpaceShipOne
Where: Mojave Desert, California
When: Monday, at 6:30 a.m. PT/ 9:30 a.m ET
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MOJAVE, California (CNN) -- If all goes well over the California desert Monday morning, Michael Melvill, 62, a veteran test pilot, will become the first civilian flier to earn his astronaut's wings aboard a privately financed spacecraft.
Melvill was announced Sunday as the pilot of SpaceShipOne, as spectators streamed into the Mojave Desert to witness the historic flight.
The rocket plane designed by Burt Rutan and built by his firm Scaled Composites is taking its 15th test flight -- its farthest and fastest to date.
Scaled Composites is one of 24 companies from several countries competing for the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which will go to the first privately funded group to send three people on a suborbital flight 62.5 miles (100.6 kilometers) high and repeat the feat within two weeks using the same vehicle.
The nonprofit X Prize Foundation is sponsoring the contest to promote the development of a low-cost, efficient craft for space tourism in the same way prize competitions stimulated commercial aviation in the early 20th century.
The prize is fully funded through January 1, 2005, according to the foundation's Web site.
With only Melvill on board, Monday's flight will test SpaceShipOne's ability to reach the 62.5-mile altitude, which is the internationally agreed-upon boundary of space.
Depending on the success of the initial flight, it will compete for the X Prize later in the year.
"We're hoping this will be just a repetition of the last flight, just a little faster, a little higher," said Melvill, who on May 13 flew SpaceShipOne to 212,000 feet, or a little more than 40 miles, at more than twice the speed of sound. (Full story)
"I am ready to go, boy, I am ready to go."
The rocket plane will be carried by a jet called White Knight to an altitude of about 50,000 feet, where the two will separate.
SpaceShipOne will then use its rocket engines to accelerate to Mach 3 -- three times the speed of sound -- to reach the required altitude.
The significance of the launch was hailed during a news conference at the Mojave launch site by two of the project's most enthusiastic backers: Rutan and billionaire Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft Corp.
"Tomorrow we will meet to add one more page to the history books," Allen said. "[Private space flight] will undoubtedly lead to unprecedented new endeavors in the years to come."
Both men said they expected the technology to lead to a human space flight industry financed by the private sector.
Allen has invested more than $20 million in Scaled Composites to create the manned program -- a fraction of what government-sponsored efforts have cost.
Rutan predicted that the small investment would be just a start.
"Space flight is not only for governments to do," Rutan said. "Clearly, there's an enormous pent-up huger to fly into space and not just dream about it."
He hesitated to give a precise prediction when a major tourism industry would develop. But he said that within 10 to 15 years affordable suborbital flights would become a reality, and it wouldn't stop there.
"We are heading to orbit sooner than you think," he said. "We do not intend to stay in low-earth orbit for decades. The next 25 years will be a wild ride. ... One that history will note was done for the benefit of everyone."
Rutan said preparations for Monday's flight had been completed days ahead of schedule.
The fuel -- more than 3,000 pounds of nitrous oxide and 600 pounds of a rubber ingredient -- was already loaded into SpaceShipOne's tanks. Late Sunday, the plane was sitting in a dark hangar awaiting its 6:30 a.m. launch.
Melvill was enthusiastic about SpaceShipOne's prospects for success.
Melvill spent 19 years piloting experimental aircraft, from crop dusters to jet fighters, according to Scaled Composites.
He has made about 10 "first flights" of different types of aircraft, including the maiden launch of SpaceShipOne.
