Mike Melvill Chosen To Fly SpaceShipOne 527
ansimon writes "Mike Melvill is chosen to fly SpaceShipOne to the outer limits of this rock that we call earth. Mike will be the first to earn his astronaut wings with a privately-developed aeroplane/rocket. A new era of space exploration is about to begin! Godspeed and come back safe, so the rest of us can go too..."
In case of slashdotting (Score:5, Informative)
Re:YURI GAGARIN (Score:5, Informative)
I don't know if it is a very dramatic sounding name though
Re:Ballistic Flight? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:To save everyone some time tomorrow ... (Score:1, Informative)
I am the person who posted the original comment, and in fact, thinking it over, to a certain extent I rather agree with you. It is quite true that there is a very real, tangible risk to this flight, which surely negates the humor of such a comment to some extent. If the risk were imaginary, or exaggerated, that wouldn't be the case.
Consider: If this were a similar story about, say, a child undergoing a risky experimental transplant operation, then, indeed--there would be no humor in such a comment whatsoever.
I realize that perhaps this is no different. This Mike Melvill, although I do not know him personally, looks like a friendly, happy human being. He quite likely has a family; if not, certainly friends. If something really were to go wrong, we're talking about real, living, breathing human being who will no longer be with us, and who will be deeply missed by those who loved him, and those whom he loved.
I think the way to see humor in a remark like that which I made is to take it as Pharmboy explained in his earlier post--if this link is funny tomorrow at lunch, rather than prophetic, then there was indeed humor value in it. So, in a way, with my post I suppose was betting on the odds here, and hoping that Mike comes through for us. Otherwise, you are quite right, it really won't be funny. Not at all.
MSNBC Streaming Video (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Ballistic Flight? (Score:3, Informative)
At the same time, if they pull it off, it will be truly an incredible moment, and I'll join everybody else in wishing him good luck and Godspeed as he flies into the history books.
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Informative)
My first life insurance company didn't cover me while I was flying, took me a while to find a company that would cover me during recreational flying, and soaring, without charging me through the nose.
Also don't tell some car insurance companies your a pilot, you will get the rates of a 16 year old.
Re:"earns his wings"???? (Score:3, Informative)
I beg to differ........ (Score:5, Informative)
They will not win the X-Prize tommorow and they most likely will not win it in the nearest future.
The X-Prize is for 2 manned launches with the equivalent of 3 persons mass within 2 weeks.
Tommorow's flight is 1 person and less ballast mass and AFAIK, scaled has no plans to launch again in the following 2 weeks.
Ya, right (Score:5, Informative)
Then how about JUGDERDEMIDIYN GURRAGCHA [google.com], who is not only first Mongolian cosmonaut, but is also named way beyond 'dramatically'.
In fact, here is a complete list [kursknet.ru] of all 436 cosmo-/astronauts. Choose your favourite
Scaled Composites == Burt Rutan (Score:5, Informative)
Burt Rutan has been thinking outside the box, from the halcyon days of the Vari-Eze & Long-Eze to the innovative Ares [airspacemag.com] and the 'appear-to-thumb-your-nose-at-physics' Boomerang [popularmechanics.com].
His company; Scaled Composites, have not only survived the drastic slump of the light aircraft market in the 80's and 90' but made innovation their tradition - no small feat.
IMHO, they deserve to succeed with this attempt of Spaceship One [yahoo.com].
Re:This puts NASA in a very interesting position (Score:3, Informative)
Raised by idiots, perhaps. While there may be many things to criticize about NASA, comparing SpaceShipOne to their efforts is definitely apples and oranges. Suborbital. Minimal payload capacity. Has NASA designed anything to that kind of spec since the early 60s? I applaud Scaled Composites' achievements, but... wake me up when they've got a cheap way to lift heavy loads to LEO. Given that capability, space begins to get interesting.
Re:eye sight (Score:3, Informative)
Commercial and Airline pilots must have 20/20 distance after correction for medical, and all three classes need 20/40 near after correction.
The Air Force, Navy, and Marines tend to require uncorrected vision to begin flight training, but allow some correction once they've got money invested in you, and AFAIK, none of them allow any sort of corrective eye surgery, as there's concerns the sutures could rupture in high performance maneuvers.
Re:Would a private moon expedition be possible? (Score:3, Informative)
Among other things it says that no nation can claim territory in space, and then says that all private concerns are bound by the same rules as nations.
It is a good thing that no one listens to the UN.
Tim
John Carmack's opinion (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ya, right (Score:3, Informative)
Sure, it may have been a political payback for the Mongol's support of the Soviet Union, but for a nation of mostly nomadic herders, it was quite an accomplishment.
Re:YURI GAGARIN (Score:3, Informative)
-
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova
[astronautix.com]
First woman in space.
-
Guion Bluford
[nasa.gov] First african american in space.
- Laika [nasa.gov]
first of earths inhabitants in space (baring alien abductions, etc).
- Tito [seniorjournal.com] first tourist.... Shuttlesworth [africaninspace.com] - first guy from his whole continent...
"I don't know if it is a very dramatic sounding name though" IMHO Guion Bluford probably has the coolest name of the lot.Re:Yes, but (Score:4, Informative)
Also like Bill, Paul gives away billions, but unlike Bill, it is without strings attached (Bill gives billions, but it is tied to MS).
Also, Paul is well-liked and admired by those who have bought from him as well as worked for him. He has not been slimey in the way that the approaches every thing that he does. Have you heard anybody issue a nasty word at Paul? I see you tieing him to MS, but I see no direct words against him.
Re:I confess to a little excitement ... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:eye sight (Score:3, Informative)
Unless things have changed in the last 7 years or so, the Navy requires 20/30 in each eye, correctable to 20/20, in order to qualify for flight training. Once you've earned your wings, your vision can drop as low as 20/70 (correctable) and you will still be categorized as Service Group 1 (which means that you can fly anything you like). If your vision degrades below 20/70 you start to face restrictions on what you can fly, e.g. fighters are out. I believe that USMC requirements are fairly similar to the USN's. Not sure exactly what the USAF looks for, but IIRC their requirement was 20/40 (correctable) to qualify for flight training.
AFAIK, none of them allow any sort of corrective eye surgery, as there's concerns the sutures could rupture in high performance maneuvers
Last I heard, the USN and USMC consider PRK or LASIK to be disqualifying for entry into flight programs. However, the USN is actively studying PRK, so it may be allowed sometime in the near future.
Re:YURI GAGARIN (Score:2, Informative)
But he's not the first black guy from the americas!
Note that Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, a Cuban (part of north america) of African descent who flew on USSR's Salyut 6 space station in 1980 was before Guion (1983).
... you are a party pooper. (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously. This topic has been debated so much that I swear that this is some astro turfing by Boeing.
People are clamoring to get into space, and has been pointed out in many areas, even with this limited capability it still even has value for some research programs. This is a bridge builder, not a dead-end technology.
As has been pointed out many times, the flight distance of the original flight of the Wright Flyer was less than the wingspan of a 747. Does that mean it was a dead-end technology? In some ways yes. The flying system of a Wright flyer relied upon wing warping that has not been revisited until very recently, and that only in experimental aircraft. The body shifting a skilled pilot with that aircraft had to do is now really only used with hang-gliders, and even then it is much more refined. Even the later version of the aircraft were really only able to travel about 100 miles, and only under conditions we would call today VFR.
I do believe this is much more than symbolism. This is building infrastructure and bringing back the days of barnstorming, where pilots from WWI wanted to earn a few extra bucks, so they took an airplane (sometimes military surplus as well) and flew it around for "air shows" (usually just a simple demonstration... not the current rather extravagant versions we have now), and occasionally taking on a few passengers. With Spaceship One, this era of flight can be reborn, and it was during that critical era that aircraft technologies matured enough that passenger air service finally occured, ultimately leading to the DC-3 (a fun aircraft that I've actually flown in as a passenger on a regular commercial flight).
Right now, there isn't really anything between the Space Shuttle and the ship currently being built by the "Rocket Guy" Brian Walker [rocketguy.com] And even Mr. Walker, while it may eventually work, still isn't even done.
Finally there is a system in place that can and will approve commercial space flight (as proved by Scaled Composites... they have the permit in hand). Technologies can and will be upgraded, and as just about every participant in the X-prize competition has been proving, you can get to space on less than the most exotic rockets and materials. Let's see where spaceflight can happen when you don't have contractors saying "it doesn't matter what the cost of building it is. Just get it up there." That leads to Shuttle launches that cost 1/2 Billion dollars each. This next flight of the shuttle will cost way over $1 Billion. I know that private companies could do that for considerably cheaper. Indeed, $1 Billion could cover the entire R&D budget, including FAA certification trials, of a whole launch system capable of putting seven astronauts at the ISS with extra cargo room for some expendable supplies. Why wouldn't NASA go that route instead? Just make an x-prize equivalent for the same money, and it will be going well before the shuttle is ready and flight-recertified itself. (Well... maybe, but then you might as well junk the entire shuttle program if an alternative program is close to launching).
If you don't think a $1 billion carrot for orbital characteristics would work, you really havn't been paying attention to the X-prize, have you? And that is money that will more than likely be spend in the the next two years anyway, why not put it to more valuable use?
Re:Why are astronauts wished Godspeed? (Score:3, Informative)
The word Godspeed is used to wish a person good fortune or success, as on starting a journey, a new business, etc. It is usually found in expressions of the sort "to bid (a person) Godspeed."
Godspeed is a nominalization of the phrase God speed (you), understanding which depends on two things: speed in this sense means 'to prosper; succeed', which is now archaic, but which is the original sense of the word; and the verb is subjunctive, expressing a wish, with the entire phrase meaning "may God cause you to succeed." Semantic parallels are such common expressions as God bless you or God forbid!; another nominalization is goddamn (as in "I don't give a good goddamn what you think"), shortened from God damn you.
Astronaut Prayer (Score:3, Informative)
Prayer of Astronaut Gordon Cooper, pilot of the Mercury-Atlas 9 mission, during 17th orbit of the Earth in the "Faith 7".
While looking for a prayer for astronauts that I swore existed I found this. While I am not of any religion I hope that the mission will be on your minds, as private companies going to space will help speed up the exploration of space. The last thing we need is a setback on the first try. I posted this as it is a great look back to 1962 and how the US felt in contrast to today. While some things stayed the same...
Re:Hate To Be the Party Pooper But..... :( (Score:3, Informative)
Nope. You may achieve a height that would be useful for an orbit, but to be "in orbit" you have to achieve a speed tangential to the earth's radius (i.e. at right angles to your ascent) such that the centripetal acceleration of your vehicle is equal and opposite to that of the earth's gravity. You can work it out quite simply from Newton's famous equation F=GMm/r^2 and F=-mv^2/r
Terrible resume... (Score:3, Informative)
Flight Experience:
First flight of the Model 72 GRIZZLY prototype, a short take-off and landing bush plane.
First flight of the Model 77 SOLITAIRE prototype, a self-launching single place sailplane.
First flight of the Model 81 CATBIRD prototype, a high performance 5 place general aviation aircraft.
First flight of the Model 120 PREDATOR prototype, a high performance crop duster.
First flight of the Model 144 prototype, ultimately flown as a UAV.
First in flight firing of the GAU-12/U25mm cannon in the Model 151 ARES jet fighter.
First flight of the Model 202 BOOMERANG, Burt's unconventional high performance twin.
First flight of the Model 226 RAPTOR, later flown as an RPV.
First flight of the Model 281 PROTEUS, a high altitude research twin engine jet.
First flight of the Model 316 SPACESHIPONE
Participated in the flight testing of the following:
Beech Starship prototype (NGBA)
Fairchild's Next Generation Trainer for the US Air Force (NGT)
ARES, a single engine, ground support jet fighter.
Pond Racer, a twin engine racing plane, designed to break the unlimited piston powered world speed record.
He is the only person to have flown in the Voyager Aircraft besides Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager.
Total flight time: 6950 hours in 127 fixed wing and 11 helicopters
Was awarded the Ivan C. Kincheloe trophy in 1999 for his work on developmental high altitude flight testing of the model 281 Proteus
Member of the Experimental Aircraft Association
Personally built and flight tested:
Model 27 Variviggen
Model 61 Long-EZ
Flew his Long-EZ around the world in 1997.
Still, with all that, I would still have an urge to say this when he gets in the craft...
"Son, if you screw this one up I swear the only thing you'll be flying is a plane load of rubber dog sh*t out of Hong Kong!"