2004: SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately financed craft to leave Earth’s atmosphere and reach the edge of space.

With self-taught civilian test pilot Mike Melvill at the controls, SpaceShipOne was released by its carrier craft and fired its hybrid rocket motors at an altitude of 47,000 feet over California’s Mojave Desert. As Melvill steered the ship outside the atmosphere, he spent about three minutes in weightlessness.

To help dramatize the moment, Melvill opened a bag of M&M’s and watched the candy float around the cockpit. “It was amazing,” he said later.

SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 62 miles, putting it into suborbital space.

Although there was some damage to the ship during the flight — Melvill reported hearing a loud bang at one point — it landed without incident on the same runway from which it had taken off 90 minutes earlier.

Melvill was welcomed enthusiastically upon landing by thousands of spectators, but two stood out: Paul Allen, Microsoft’s co-founder, who helped finance the project, and Burt Rutan, SpaceShipOne’s chief designer.

The real significance of SpaceShipOne’s flight was to demonstrate that a privately financed, privately designed craft capable of space flight was now viable, meaning that the heavens are open to commercial exploitation.

In other words, money talks, even when the air runs out.

Source: Space.com

Photo: Rokits.org

This article first appeared on Wired.com June 21, 2007.