# Chalk Another One Up For Rutan! 200K ft! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 14, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071 "2004-05-14T04:31:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/1 "2004-05-14T04:31:50Z")
[Go, baby, go!](http://space.com/businesstechnology/technology/rutan_flight_040513.html) > [@](#): > > In a post-flight statement from the company, the SpaceShipOne team reported that their space plane flew to 212,000 feet altitude, almost 41 miles. NASA awards astronaut status to anyone who flies above 50 miles in altitude. > > “This flight marks an additional milestone for Paul G. Allen, Burt Rutan and the innovative aerospace design team in their ongoing efforts to complete the first non-government manned space flight. The test is part of Scaled Composites’ Tier One program, funded by Allen, Microsoft co-founder and CEO of Vulcan Inc.,” according to the statement. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/2 "2004-05-14T04:48:14Z")
Yeah, for some time my money’s been on them to take the X Prize. One step closer! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/3 "2004-05-15T03:59:38Z")
[Check out the view that the pilot of SpaceShipOne had!](http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/New_Index/photos/images/video/13p_feather_tail.jpg) Totally black sky, big ol’ curved Earth below! Halleluiah! We’re gettin’ close! Twenty more miles and he claims the prize! (Rumor has it that he’s going to be making his first attempt on July 4th.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/4 "2004-05-15T05:49:54Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Rumor has it that he’s going to be making his first attempt on July 4th. F-ing sweet. I’ve got my fingers crossed for their team. That is _such_ a cool photo. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/5 "2004-05-15T06:00:03Z")
**Way** cool. My colleague used to work for Scaled Composites. We saw some footage of Spaceship One on the morning news - his comment:“Remember, that thing is _glued_ together. It’s just a big model airplane!” (I don’t think he’ll line up for a ride. I would.) ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/6 "2004-05-15T16:14:34Z")
Wow! Whan an incredible pic! What’s standing in their way now? Will the next flight be the one? Crank that motherfucker up, Burt! \*What Would Chuck Yeager Do? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/7 "2004-05-15T16:39:15Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > Wow! Whan an incredible pic! > > What’s standing in their way now? Will the next flight be the one? > > Crank that motherfucker up, Burt! > > \*What Would Chuck Yeager Do? Rampant rumours are that Rutan will make one test flight to the qualifying altitude, and _then_ notify the X-Prize folks that he’ll be going for it (he’s got to give them a 30 day notice). There’s two dates in July that are historically significant, the first is, of course, July 4th, the second is July 20th (the date that Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon). Now, to snag the prize, Rutan’s got to make two successful flights within a two week period, so if he goes up on July 4th, he’ll have to make his second attempt _before_ July 20th. So, the way I see it, he’ll either make his first attempt before July 4th and then snag the prize on his second trip on July 4th, or he’ll do something similar with the July 20th date. Rutan has stated that once he claims the prize, he intends to launch once a week for six months to prove a point. This tells me that he’s gotten the turnaround time down to less than a week (a good engineer always pads his time estimates, so that he can look like a miracle worker when he accomplishes his task “early”). In checking the calendar, I notice that July 20th is a Tuesday, and Rutan seems to like launching on Tuesdays. The 4th is a Sunday. (Of course Rutan could always snag the prize on the 4th and then begin his weekly flights on the 20th, my money’s on him either snagging the prize on July 20th, or making his first attempt then.) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/8 "2004-05-17T21:53:40Z")
> [@Spiny Norman](#): > > **Way** cool. > > My colleague used to work for Scaled Composites. We saw some footage of Spaceship One on the morning news - his comment:“Remember, that thing is _glued_ together. It’s just a big model airplane!” (I don’t think he’ll line up for a ride. I would.) So is your colleague planning on giving up flying altogether? Because I was reading an article in an engineering magazine the other day in which a Boeing engineer stated that _everyone_ in the aircraft industry was migrating towards composites. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/9 "2004-05-17T23:10:06Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [Check out the view that the pilot of SpaceShipOne had!](http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/New_Index/photos/images/video/13p_feather_tail.jpg) Wow! Is there _ **any** _ air up there? How can that still be considered our atmosphere? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chalk-another-one-up-for-rutan-200k-ft/245071/10 "2004-05-17T23:26:55Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Wow! Is there _ **any** _ air up there? How can that still be considered our atmosphere? Well, it’s pretty thin, but it’s thick enough that drag from it still affects things. The standard orbit for the shuttle is about 100 miles up (IIRC) and it gets a bit of a drag from what’s there. Hubble is about the only thing currently in orbit around the Earth (other than the Moon, of course) which might be above all traces of the atmosphere.