A Look At SpaceShipOne Landing At
Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio.

SpaceShipOne is ONLY 6,800 pounds when full of fuel (3,000 pounds empty - or only as much as a compact car)...the mothership (White Knight) is only 6,000 pounds...for a total that is LESS than 13,000 pounds with a FULL payload! Absolutely INCREDIBLE when you COMPARE it with conventional metallic spacecraft! Its hard to imagine the incredible power to weight ratio for a composite spacecraft, if you used NASA class rocket power. Read MORE about it in the link provided nearby.

Photos and media taken
by Craig Jarratt and Monica Ice.

You can click on most photos for an enlarged view. Use BACK feature if no return present.

 This article about the landing is bylined by Monica.
Test pilot Mike Melvill (not "e") flew the White Knight with SpaceShipOne attached into Dayton Ohio from the EAA Airventure in OshKosh, WI to refuel and stop for the night. Craig Jarratt, his dad, and I (Monica) got on base at Wright-Patterson AFB to see him fly in. A little after 5pm, the head guy asked Mike to do a fly-by first then come in to land. We saw Melvill approach from the NW. He flew over the runway in front of us, gain altitude on a left bank, then came around again to land. (It's a small craft.) From the runway, he rolled over by where we the spactators were, right in front of me, and pulled to a stop outside the main hanger. He shook some hands after he got out and everyone was directed inside out of the sun. They had a makeshift mike and speakers set up where he gave a small talk and answered some questions. (Note: Scaled Composites who owns the craft already has a relationship with the AFRL (Air Force Research Lab) on base from previous cooperations.) While he was answering questions, a crew rolled the White Knight into the hanger, giving those of us with camera and vid a 360-degree picture. I took stills; Craig shot video. Look for these on the website in the future. I went to the Engineer's Club for Mike Melvill's presentation. He showed a powerpoint show with vid clips of how the craft was built, how it works, (how simple it is), and footage of testing, his flight, and more. There is a mentality within Scaled Composites against NASA which he made very clear. A few points of interest: SpaceShipOne, in original 21 June condition, will be hung by the Spirit of St Louis in DC, but the White Knight will be going back to California. (He can't get it back there soon enough; they need it asap.) Rutan and Branson signed an agreement at the EAA Airventure to form a new company which will make larger SpaceShipTwos, capable of carrying 7 passengers and 2 pilots. The seats for passengers are going for $200,000 each, and they already have a list of 50,000 people who are waiting their turns at that price. They will make their investment money back rather quickly. As more people fly in space, the price will go down. He speculate in 7-10 years, a trip to space will be about the price of a luxury car. It was an excellent presentation, and at the end, the former president of the Engineer's Club presented him with the original license issued to Orville Wright, with certificate of authenticity. (Two notes: The wrights had stood on this same stage presenting "Experiments in Flight", so Mike presented his show, "Experiments in Space Flight". Also, since he got the first issued private space license, the club and family deemed it appropriate to give him Orville's first flight license. He was very surprised.) After the presentation, the club put on a punch and cookies reception. (I didn't really stay for it; I'd been out all day.) Again, look for my pictures and Craig's video in the future on the Ohio Mars site. Craig will film tomorrow's presentation and take-off. If you have any questions for me or if I left anything out, email me (poncact@juno.com) and I'll correct that. Monica P.S. I made some 11X17 posters of the Ohio Astronauts image from the NASA Glenn site Tom linked us to. I plan on printing a batch of standard-size "posters" on glossy paper as well. If you know of someone who could really use one, let me know. To Post a message, send it to: mars_society_ohio@eGroups.com

After reading above, here's note from the webmaster too.

From your webmaster - updated May 8th, 2010. Just an add-on editorial here. I would not say there is a mentality towards NASA. It is more of a frustration of goals. I think everyone wants to get to space, but has different ideas how to get there. All ideas need to be examined, and sometimes the tried and true can get the job done, but man has historically been expansive if given the chance. Now that this new lighter bird has broken into the blackness of space, all eyes are upon it. It may be OK for Near Earth Orbit missions for now, once the engine is developed, but the skin is too thin for long term space flight when it comes to radiation and solar flares. The new light-weight construction is great for the main body of the craft, but on a trip to Mars, they will probably have to bulk it up for the sake of the crew. And/or, they may try newer, faster engines, such as the ion engines being made available for commercial ventures - to get us there faster and with less exposure. Maybe we will see trips to Mars that only last 39 days on their very 1st manned Mars voyage. cya. - Tom

The first 3 photos in our thumbnails are all on the same display page for your viewing. This may still be under construction, so check back soon!

READ all about the wonderment of this extreme achievement on the slides page.

<<< For COOL Videos of Melvill explaining his flight, etc. CLICK IT!

See 360 degree view (animated GIF) of SpaceShipOne!!! This will DISPLAY on its own special page. It is 1.7 Megs in size, please allow enough time for it to load. (5-10 minutes) Feel free to roam about the new page while it loads. Once loaded, the crisp 1/2 page 360 degree show should display rather smoothly. (Tom's version of high tech.) <g> Ulead GIF Animator was used in the design.

Read more about it on the slides page.

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