It was a one-of-a-kind moment for a throng of well-wishers, including this reporter, all in nose-up, sky-squinting position at California's Mojave Airport on June 21, 2004. Let loose from its White ...

Thousands of obervers at the Mojave Spaceport and millions watching via webcast and TV were able to follow today’s dramatic flight to space of the SpaceShipOne suborbital vehicle via Ecliptic’s ...

Ingenious. Tireless. Masterful. Aerospace engineer and entrepreneur Burt Rutan turns ideas into winged vehicles that soar, take powered flight, and now rocket into space, safely returning to land ...

MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) - A rocket plane soared above Earth's atmosphere Monday in the first privately financed manned spaceflight, then glided back to Earth for an unpowered landing. SpaceShipOne pilot ...

The exhibit 'honors Mike Melvill, the nation's first commercial astronaut who flew SpaceShipOne above 100 kilometers on June 21, 2004.' When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an ...

Although NASA’s Project Mercury and SpaceShipOne served very different objectives, a closer look reveals that both missions were powered by equal parts of competition, innovation, and a strong dose of ...

The rocket plane SpaceShipOne broke through the Earth's atmosphere to the edge of space Monday for the second time in five days, capturing a $10 million prize aimed at opening the final frontier to ...

When re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, SpaceShipOne employed a feathering system that raised to 65 degrees the rear half of the wings along with both tail booms. Invented by American engineer Burt Rutan ...

Part 2 explores the dramatically different approaches to the launch systems, and the surprising similarities in the factors that contributed to their success. Although they served very different ...

MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) -- A rocket plane soared above Earth's atmosphere Monday in the first privately financed manned spaceflight, then glided back to Earth for an unpowered landing. SpaceShipOne pilot ...