What is special about SpaceShipOne?
The design features a unique “feathering” atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folds 70 degrees upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increases drag while retaining stability. SpaceShipOne completed the first crewed private spaceflight in 2004.
What material is SpaceShipOne primarily made of?
SpaceShipOne is constructed from conventional graphite-epoxy composite materials, with some limited use of high-temperature epoxies.
What was one of the toughest parts of Stinemetze’s job?
From SpaceShipOne: According to the passage, what was one of the hardest parts of Stinemetze’s job? Spaceship one’s engine ignited right by the mother ship. What is the meaning of ignited?
Why does SpaceShipTwo feather?
The feather is what provides stability during re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere. Once SpaceShipTwo has re-entered the atmosphere, the feather is rotated back down, returning to its original position which allows our pilots to glide the spaceship smoothly to Earth for a runway landing at Spaceport America, NM.
How far off the ground did SpaceShipOne get?
SpaceShipOne (SS1), the first private crewed space vehicle, which flew past the boundary of space (100,000 metres, or 328,000 feet) over the United States in 2004 in competition for the Ansari X Prize.
Who paid for SpaceShipOne?
Paul Allen
The prize was won on October 4, 2004, the 47th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch, by the Tier One project designed by Burt Rutan and financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, using the experimental spaceplane SpaceShipOne.
What is a spaceship pilot called?
As a single-seat spacecraft, the cosmonaut who flew the Vostok missions were referred to simply as “Pilot Cosmonauts”.
Why do Virgin Galactic wings rotate?
SpaceShipTwo’s most innovative feature is its unique capability to change its shape in space to ensure a repeatable safe re-entry. By rotating its wings and tail booms upwards while in space, the vehicle’s stability and rate of deceleration in descent is controlled by aerodynamic forces.
Does Virgin Galactic heat shield?
Despite all the drag, the feathering formation is also stable—so stable that Virgin Galactic officials have said pilots can take their hands off the controls. And with the craft’s low weight, re-entry temperatures remain low compared with other manned spacecraft, making heat shields or tiles unnecessary.
How many spaceships does Virgin Galactic have?
five SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes
Virgin Galactic plans to operate a fleet of five SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes in a private passenger-carrying service and has been taking bookings for some time, with a suborbital flight carrying an updated ticket price of US$250,000.
How did the wing system on SpaceShipOne work?
When SpaceShipOne slowed down enough to handle aerodynamic flight, the wing sections were rotated back into the straight position for the final glide back to the runway. The system worked, and helped SpaceShipOne win the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004.
How are the wings of SpaceShipOne feathered?
The wings of SpaceShipOne can be pneumatically tilted forwards into an aerodynamically stable high- drag “feathered” shape. This removes most of the need to actively control attitude during the early part of reentry: Scaled Composites refer to this as “care-free reentry”.
Where is the SpaceShipOne in the Air and Space Museum?
For the past decade, SpaceShipOne has been on display as one of the hanging artifacts in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall.
Who is the owner of the SpaceShipOne space plane?
SpaceShipOne was a space plane designed and fabricated by Scaled Composites, a company owned by aerospace designer Burt Rutan. Its development was backed by the deep pockets of billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, in a joint venture named Tier One whose objective was to develop technology for low-cost routine access to space.