As of a minute ago, everyone is back on the ground and over at Scaled Composites. SpaceShipOne rolled out a fair distance but not quite past where I was standing at the XCOR hanger. The White Knight did a low pass before doing a sharp turn to come back and land; then the three chase planes did a formation flight. Among the three was Paul Allen’s Alpha Jet and Rutan’s Beech Starship.
It has been a long wait. We have finally done it. The road to the stars opened today.
Private industry develops on an exponential and we have just gotten to the fun part of the curve.
Now to celebrate!
The’ve do what few have been able to do.
Bravo Zulu!
Outstanding! XCOR is now where the Wright Flyer was… let us hope that space flight now does what terrestial aviation did.
It’s fantastic news, and there’s more about it on BBC news if anyone’s interested here.