Designer: Space tours not on horizon [AP]

[truthisfreedom]

http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/158078-5470-010.html

Designer: Space tours not on horizon

Man who created private rocket plane says different craft is needed for tourists.


By John Antczak
Associated Press

June 27, 2004
 


MOJAVE, Calif. -- The chubby-looking, stubby-winged aircraft that cracked the commercial spaceflight barrier last week may have made a great leap in aviation history, but the man who designed it believes we are still a long way from regular space tourism.


SpaceShipOne, designed by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, soared to 328,491 feet above Earth on Monday, just a little more than 400 feet above the distance scientists widely consider to be the boundary of space. The flight lasted 90 minutes.


However, Rutan said there was a serious malfunction in part of the system that fine-tunes the flight controls, which will have to be fixed before the craft flies again.


Pilot Mike Melvill said the experience "blew me away."

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