rfonseca
12-31-2003, 04:10 AM
Taken from the Canard Forum:
George T. Whitesides [mailto:gtwhitesides@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 10:54 AM
To: Burt Rutan
Subject: NPR story on your flight
Burt, I know you get tons of these, but I did a commentary on your test on
NPR last week, and thought I would send you a copy of the text. Congratulations
-- it was an amazing sight.
-George Whitesides
NPR Day to Day, Thursday, Dec. 18
This week, while President Bush and John Travolta were honoring the Wright
Brothers under the rainy skies of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, George Whitesides
was in Mojave, California, watching a new chapter in history open. Whitesides
is the director a space education project called "Permission to Dream."
I was there on a rumor – the rumor that aviation pioneer Burt Rutan might
test his brand new rocket vehicle, SpaceShipOne, on the 100th anniversary of
powered flight. Rutan is best known for designing the Voyager, the first plane to
fly around the world without refueling. But now he has set his sights
higher, on the X PRIZE, a $10 million dollar contest for the first private craft to
take humans into space. SpaceShipOne is his entry.
So at 6:30 am, I found myself on the flightline of the Mojave airport, the
home base of Rutan’s company, shivering with a small band of fellow space buffs.
Within an hour, our shivering was rewarded, and SpaceShipOne rolled regally
out onto the tarmac. It is hard to describe the feeling of seeing this
amazing craft. It’s actually two crafts, mated together: the carrier vehicle,
dubbed the White Knight, looks like a Star Wars fighter, while SpaceShipOne – a
pointed pod with stars painted on its nose -- hangs underneath, to be carried
aloft to its designated release altitude.
This beautiful, elegant system, its twin engines whistling with caged power,
wheeled right past our observation station, and the small crowd let out a
whoop. I think I even saw someone in the cockpit wave a thumbs up sign out the
window.
We heard the magic words, “White Knight, you are cleared for takeoff”, and
the whine of the engines grew to a roar. And there, before my very eyes, a
private spaceship took off into the morning sky. It felt like the moment that
all the kids since Apollo had been waiting for – a personal spaceship made for
you and me.
We watched and waited as the craft ascended to 48,000 feet. At 8:15, we
heard the radio again, “SpaceShipOne release in one minute thirty seconds.” We
redoubled our efforts to peer through our binoculars, camcorders, zoom lenses.
“Release in ten seconds.” This was the real thing. “Release in five …
four … three … two … one.”
And suddenly, there were two white ships in the blue sky. White Knight
cruised out of the way, while SpaceShipOne seemed to hover for a moment in mid-air.
Then, a flash, and a long tail of orange flame spouted downwards. Inside the
craft, pilot Brian Binnie had fired the rocket, and pulled up the nose.
Quicker than seemed possible, the craft leapt upwards, leaving behind a vertical
column of white.
Fifteen seconds later and twenty-thousand-feet higher, the flame disappeared,
and the test was over. Mr. Binnie had topped out at 68,000 feet, and broken
the sound barrier while he was at it. It was the first time that a small
company had achieved that feat.
As we waited for the craft to slowly glide its way back down to earth, I
thought of what it must have been like to watch Chuck Yeager’s X-1 break the sound
barrier over the same parched desert back in 1947. That was nearly thirty
years before I was born, and my only memory of it comes from the movie The Right
Stuff.
Now – finally – my generation had a memory to call its own. The sound
barrier was great, but the real prize – the chance to go to space, was what
vibrated through the desert that morning.
The flight is something I will carry throughout my life. It is one of those
select few stories that I look forward to repeating endlessly to my
grandchildren when I am old and wizened, amazed by the personal spaceships that they
take for granted, and which I saw born yesterday.
audio
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=1553033
George T. Whitesides [mailto:gtwhitesides@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2003 10:54 AM
To: Burt Rutan
Subject: NPR story on your flight
Burt, I know you get tons of these, but I did a commentary on your test on
NPR last week, and thought I would send you a copy of the text. Congratulations
-- it was an amazing sight.
-George Whitesides
NPR Day to Day, Thursday, Dec. 18
This week, while President Bush and John Travolta were honoring the Wright
Brothers under the rainy skies of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, George Whitesides
was in Mojave, California, watching a new chapter in history open. Whitesides
is the director a space education project called "Permission to Dream."
I was there on a rumor – the rumor that aviation pioneer Burt Rutan might
test his brand new rocket vehicle, SpaceShipOne, on the 100th anniversary of
powered flight. Rutan is best known for designing the Voyager, the first plane to
fly around the world without refueling. But now he has set his sights
higher, on the X PRIZE, a $10 million dollar contest for the first private craft to
take humans into space. SpaceShipOne is his entry.
So at 6:30 am, I found myself on the flightline of the Mojave airport, the
home base of Rutan’s company, shivering with a small band of fellow space buffs.
Within an hour, our shivering was rewarded, and SpaceShipOne rolled regally
out onto the tarmac. It is hard to describe the feeling of seeing this
amazing craft. It’s actually two crafts, mated together: the carrier vehicle,
dubbed the White Knight, looks like a Star Wars fighter, while SpaceShipOne – a
pointed pod with stars painted on its nose -- hangs underneath, to be carried
aloft to its designated release altitude.
This beautiful, elegant system, its twin engines whistling with caged power,
wheeled right past our observation station, and the small crowd let out a
whoop. I think I even saw someone in the cockpit wave a thumbs up sign out the
window.
We heard the magic words, “White Knight, you are cleared for takeoff”, and
the whine of the engines grew to a roar. And there, before my very eyes, a
private spaceship took off into the morning sky. It felt like the moment that
all the kids since Apollo had been waiting for – a personal spaceship made for
you and me.
We watched and waited as the craft ascended to 48,000 feet. At 8:15, we
heard the radio again, “SpaceShipOne release in one minute thirty seconds.” We
redoubled our efforts to peer through our binoculars, camcorders, zoom lenses.
“Release in ten seconds.” This was the real thing. “Release in five …
four … three … two … one.”
And suddenly, there were two white ships in the blue sky. White Knight
cruised out of the way, while SpaceShipOne seemed to hover for a moment in mid-air.
Then, a flash, and a long tail of orange flame spouted downwards. Inside the
craft, pilot Brian Binnie had fired the rocket, and pulled up the nose.
Quicker than seemed possible, the craft leapt upwards, leaving behind a vertical
column of white.
Fifteen seconds later and twenty-thousand-feet higher, the flame disappeared,
and the test was over. Mr. Binnie had topped out at 68,000 feet, and broken
the sound barrier while he was at it. It was the first time that a small
company had achieved that feat.
As we waited for the craft to slowly glide its way back down to earth, I
thought of what it must have been like to watch Chuck Yeager’s X-1 break the sound
barrier over the same parched desert back in 1947. That was nearly thirty
years before I was born, and my only memory of it comes from the movie The Right
Stuff.
Now – finally – my generation had a memory to call its own. The sound
barrier was great, but the real prize – the chance to go to space, was what
vibrated through the desert that morning.
The flight is something I will carry throughout my life. It is one of those
select few stories that I look forward to repeating endlessly to my
grandchildren when I am old and wizened, amazed by the personal spaceships that they
take for granted, and which I saw born yesterday.
audio
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=1553033