You're a space cadet!

[hellfish6 7]

Quote[/b] ]MOJAVE — A piloted rocket released from a spider-like mother plane shot straight up into the desert sky here today, climbing to 212,000 feet and becoming the first privately funded vehicle to reach the edge of space.

The SpaceShipOne rocket carried 62-year-old test pilot Mike Melvill to heights only a few NASA astronauts and Air Force pilots have ever reached.

The aviation milestone also propelled the aircraft's designer, Burt Rutan, to the forefront in the race to win the $10-million Ansari X Prize, an unusual competition to spur development of commercial spaceflight.

"You just can't imagine what a thrill it was. I had tears in my eyes," Rutan said, as the winged rocket glided back to Earth and made a picture-perfect landing at the airport here. "It creates a path for the rest of us to go into space."

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[Ninja_STO 0]

OK....

So soon it looks as though they'll need some sort of Space Cops, patrolling the atmosphere?

Kind of spooky when you think about it...no more having to bury those bodies in the Nevada Desert...just dump em in space.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

This mission to Mars brought to you by Coca-Cola.

[red oct 2]

man i can't wait till NASA becomes privatized so we will start more of this stuff. kind of a shame that not enough coverage is being made on this.

[Supah 0]

@ May 13 2004,06:42)]This mission to Mars brought to you by Coca-Cola.

LOL a fellow onion reader? they had this great piece about NASA finding Dasani on mars with their Coca Cola sponsored rover a while back.

[raedor 8]

man i can't wait till NASA becomes privatized so we will start more of this stuff. kind of a shame that not enough coverage is being made on this.

when nasa is privatised, it'll be down sooner or later. today it's too expensive... but wait some years.

[Apollo 0]

I don't know ,a lot of new thing's can be discovered in space that may be interresting for humankind ,but i don't see the evolution in logistics technoligy for space trade and resource gathering in the next 30 years.And apart from that ,once the technoligy's are developed it will still not be certain that resources mined on other planets will in the end provide a profit when finaly reached earth.

The only thing i see that would be immediatly interresting for private Space company's would be space tourism ,there are a lot of rich folks on the world that can spare the million's to get into space ,given the size of shuttle's one might get about 20 rich guys in there ,so it could be profitable if all these guys pay enough money.I bet there are a lot of rich folks who would be willing to afford some million's of $ to get a trip to space.But while such small trips to space or even to moon can be profitable ,i kinda fear that private space company's will throw them fully on such tourism instead of creating technoligy that could bring them further in space to location's where their might be interresting materials to exploit ,because developing such technoligy is a matter of decade's and is hughly expensive ,private company's tend to only invest in research that can fastly be turned in a profitable product.

[Baron Hurlothrumbo IIX 0]

When space is commercialised, space based mining, research, production etc will get a big boost. Lots of money to be made, although the initial outlays are huge.

[Apollo 0]

Nah i don't think private company's will invest in space mining before someon else developed the technoligy ,it's just to expensive to research for a private company.Even if Nasa and Esa would work toghether and put their vast resources on development of such technoligy it would probably still take them decade's to develop efficiant technoligy for mining colony's ,and these organization's have a way more fund's at hand than private company's ,and private company's have to be profitable to.Maybe in 50-100 years when technoligy is advanced way more then Private company's will be very important for space expansion ,but at this point we need state funded space organization's to develop the technoligy's.

I predict there will be sooner a Ritz hotel in space than a colony on mars.

[Grizzlie 0]

Quote (Tex [uSMC] @ May 13 2004,06:42)

This mission to Mars brought to you by Coca-Cola.

They want to write on surface their biggest advertisement?

Red surface is ready

[DarkLight 0]

OK....

So soon it looks as though they'll need some sort of Space Cops, patrolling the atmosphere?

Kind of spooky when you think about it...no more having to bury those bodies in the Nevada Desert...just dump em in space.  

Sure man, space will be heaven for all of us criminals!!!

I mean come on! There's enough space to dump our whole freaking worldpopulation!

Damn... i should REALLY consider buying a gun now...

[hellfish6 7]

So does anyone else think that this news is just cool? I think it's great that space is slowly becoming more accessible. Who cares if it's (theoretically) sponsored by Coca-Cola. Do ads really make you guys want to buy a product more? I already prefer Coke over Pepsi, so the fact that their ads are sponsoring a new space race doesn't bug me. Better they spend the money on this instead of on faulty accounting practices or regular old greed.

If you're a Pepsi drinker and you saw a Coke logo on a spaceship, would that make you want to drink Coke instead?

[Baron Hurlothrumbo IIX 0]

Reminds me of the the mission Nova 5 was on in Red Dwarf.... inducing stars to go supernova across the universe in a carefully timed sequence in order to spell out the message 'coke adds life' in Earth's night sky...

I think commercial opening of space is a great thing, although I don't like coke.

[DarkLight 0]

Well they shouldn't start using space as some stupid way to promote their products. Sure it's nice that they are prepared to sponsor it, as you said hellfish...

I don't feel the incredible urge to go to space but it would be pretty cool if it was made possible...

[red oct 2]

So does anyone else think that this news is just cool? I think it's great that space is slowly becoming more accessible. Who cares if it's (theoretically) sponsored by Coca-Cola. Do ads really make you guys want to buy a product more? I already prefer Coke over Pepsi, so the fact that their ads are sponsoring a new space race doesn't bug me. Better they spend the money on this instead of on faulty accounting practices or regular old greed.  

If you're a Pepsi drinker and you saw a Coke logo on a spaceship, would that make you want to drink Coke instead?

hell w/ cola's i predict it will be Walmart that will be the first to have a buisness on mars.

[Pathy 0]

The sooner we get into space, have giant space freighters with spooky corridors, manage to come into contact with some Xenomorph that wipes out the entire crew, except the one, who escapes, only to end up going back to the very planet the alien came from and fighting them......hang on.....this sounds like a film plot

[drewb99 0]

All they have to do is repeat this in the next 2 weeks and they get a big honkin' prize

[hellfish6 7]

IIRC the X-Prize requires 3 people to be on the ship in space. I think only 1 was on today. I'd like to officially announce my candidacy for being one of those extra 2 people.

[SpongeBob 0]

Tin foil hat alert!

Quote[/b] ]I watched part of the piece on CNN this morning, just as the main plane was taking off. It was interesting that there were people dressed in military uniforms in the background, like they were guarding the site. They seemed to be carrying weapons.

Which leads me to wonder if there isn't more to this than meets the eye. I recall that Howard Hughes had a ship built in the 1970's, the Glomar Explorer, that was supposed to be looking to mine mineral nodules from the ocean floor. At least, that is what the press claimed at the time, and there was substantial press. It turned out later that the real purpose of this vessel was to try to lift a sunken Russian nuclear sub from the ocean floor. The other story was a cover story, and the CIA and Hughes were working together.

http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/jennifer.htm

Anyhow, seeing the military in the background made me wonder about this mission. I don't know what the military's interest would be, but the phrase "hiding something in plain site" comes to mind, which is what the Glomar Explorer was up to.

They mentioned the cost being in the 20 to 50 million dollar range. If this technology does become available commercially (and prices would drop with commercialization) it would come comfortably within budget of a figure like Osama Bin Laden. Alternatively, countries could purchase the technology and use it for a cheap ballistic warhead delivery vehicle. It is built to carry a payload of three humans, which would put it within the capability of a small nuclear weapon, I think. I don't know how well a craft of this type could be defended against. Perhaps that accounts for the apparent military personnel in the background - the military may want to ensure that the technology is within their capacity to track and intercept.

 

[BoweryBaker 0]

the thunderbirds was a private space thing. remember that show?

[aviel 0]

LOL!!!! MIKE MELFIN IS THE PILOT!!!!!!!!!