Rocket team hit $10m jackpot

AN ungainly looking private spaceship blasted through the Earth’s atmosphere for a second time in a week today to capture a $10 million prize meant to encourage tourists to get out of this world.

A crowd of thousands of enthusiasts in California's Mojave desert began celebrating as soon as SpaceShipOne appeared to have climbed just over 62 miles generally considered to be the point where the Earth's atmosphere ends and space begins.

The rocket plane, funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, took off from a desert runway slung to the belly of a carrier plane with test pilot Brian Binnie at the wheel. It was released at about 46,000 feet and fired its rockets to continue to the edge of space.