SpaceShipOne flight 16P

Flight 16P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight that took place on September 29 2004. It was the first competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition to demonstrate a non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft. A serious roll excursion occurred during boost, due to pilot error, so the flight did not achieve the expected altitude. However, provisional apogee altitude calculations suggest that it was a successful X Prize flight. (MSN refers to this event as the "X1 spaceshot".)

Scheduling

X Prize rules required that the date and place of competitive flights be announced to the X PRIZE Foundation at least 60 days before the flight. Due to problems encountered during flight 15P on June 21 2004, Scaled Composites did not immediately set a date for their competitive flights, suspecting that another test flight might be required. By July 7 2004 Burt Rutan reported that the faults had been resolved and the next flights would be competitive. On July 27 2004 the X PRIZE Foundation announced that Scaled Composites had given notice that they would make their first competitive flight on September 29 2004.

The pilot initially selected for the flight withdrew due to stress about two weeks before the flight, after his wife gave birth and he also fell ill. Mike Melvill, who also piloted SpaceShipOne's sole previous spaceflight, stepped in to fly in his place. The choice of pilot was not publicly announced until about two hours before planned takeoff. Melvill was seen as a surprise choice, because after the previous flight he had said he wanted to take a break from flying SpaceShipOne and ride his motorbike more.

Manifest

Under Ansari X Prize rules, the flight was required to carry 180 kg payload, to simulate two 90 kg human passengers. Scaled Composites announced early on that this, their first X Prize flight, would carry inanimate payload rather than live passengers. The payload included:

X Prize flight monitoring equipment, known as the "gold box"
the Explorers Club flag, by arrangement between the Explorers Club and the X PRIZE Foundation
video equipment, producing a video stream that was broadcast live
mementos from team members, including:
- photographs
- personal tools, including Burt Rutan's college slide rule
- tree seedlings
- the ashes of Burt Rutan's mother, Irene Rutan, who had died a few years earlier
- an heirloom watch
- a copy of Charles Lindbergh's book The Spirit of St. Louis
a teddy bear being carried for the British charity Great North Air Ambulance
lead ballast to make up the payload mass

The practice of carrying arbitrary non-functional items into space, which has previously been carried out by many Space Shuttle missions, is evidence that space travel is still widely seen as special. The value of symbolic items increases enormously if the item has flown in space, due to the restricted access to space. The teddy bear being carried for charity will be auctioned at a much higher price than it would otherwise command. Scaled Composites employees were made to sign a contract forbidding them from selling the mementos they put on the flight.

SpaceShipOne and White Knight bore several logos for the flight. These included:

the Scaled Composites logo
the Ansari X Prize logo, as required by X Prize rules
the Virgin Galactic logo, on the tails, following the signing earlier in the week of an agreement for Virgin Galactic to license Tier One technology for space tourism
the M&Ms logo, apparently in an act of sponsorship inspired by Melvill's antics with M&Ms during flight 15P

Flight profile

The SpaceShipOne pilot was Mike Melvill. There were three chase planes.

All times are in PDT, which is seven hours behind UTC. This was the local civil time at the spaceport on the day of the flight. All measurements are first stated in the Imperial units in which they were originally reported, with conversions to SI units also given.

The flight was planned to take off from Mojave Spaceport in the early morning, when wind conditions are most favourable. Takeoff was scheduled for 06:47, but was delayed because of winds gusting to 50 mph (20 m/s), which subsided after sunrise. White Knight, carrying SpaceShipOne, taxied to the runway at 07:00, and took off at 07:11.

After takeoff, White Knight and SpaceShipOne ascended to the launch altitude, planned to be around 14 km. At 08:09 SpaceShipOne was released, briefly glided, then went into nose-up attitude and ignited the rocket motor. The rocket motor, upgraded since the previous flight, was capable of burning for approximately 80 s. It was planned to shut off the motor when the altitude reaches 345,000 feet (105 km), presumably to avoid pushing the envelope too far.

The spacecraft started rolling rapidly late in the burn, due to pilot error. The pilot was not highly concerned by this, being confident that he could correct the situation, and he allowed the burn to continue during the roll. He later said "I thought it was kind of cool". When there was sufficient velocity to assure the achievement of the target altitude, the pilot aborted the burn, 11 s early. After engine cutoff, the craft continued climbing while tumbling, and the pilot started damping out the roll using the reaction jets. Overall the craft did about 20 complete rolls.

The apogee altitude was estimated by the nearby Edwards Air Force Base, based on radar data, to be 337,500 feet (102.9 km). This was far less than anticipated, but sufficient to qualify as a spaceflight and satisfy X Prize requirements.

After apogee the pilot got the spacecraft attitude under control and feathered the wing for atmospheric reentry. Reentry proceeded normally, with the craft apparently intact. It changed back to gliding configuration normally, and glided back to the spaceport and landed safely at 08:34. White Knight then landed at 08:39.

Spectacle

As with SpaceShipOne's previous flight, a crowd of thousands watched from Mojave Spaceport. Television coverage also occurred. SPACE.com provided live video from SpaceShipOne's cockpit.

Distinguished attendees included:

Sean O'Keefe, NASA Administrator
Erik Lindbergh, grandson of the pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh and a member of the X PRIZE Foundation board
James Cameron, action film director
John Landis, film director
William Readdy, astronaut

At 06:09, shortly before planned takeoff, spectators were told to stay at the spaceport after the flight, to hear a "major announcement" about the future of the X PRIZE Foundation.

Later flights

To win the X Prize, a spacecraft must make two successful competitive flights within 14 days. With this flight on September 29 2004 successful, a second flight must follow by October 13 2004 in order to win.

Scaled Composites has scheduled the second competitive flight, flight 17P, for October 4 2004, the 47th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1. There is a possibility of a third competitive flight (18P) occurring by October 13 2004 if the second is not successful.

The da Vinci Project, another X Prize contender, planed to make its first competitive flight on October 2 2004, but encountered problems and had to delay its flights. The da Vinci Project will now only have a chance at the X Prize if Tier One's flights fail.

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