Rocket plane goes supersonic

A rocket plane broke the sound barrier during its first powered flight, but a partial landing gear collapse caused it to veer off its Californian desert runway.

SpaceShipOne test pilot Brian Binnie was not injured, and the builder, Scaled Composites LLC, said damage to the craft would be easily repaired.

The company said the test in the Mojave Desert was a milestone, because it marked the first manned supersonic flight by an aircraft developed by a small company’s private, non-governmental effort.

The craft is being developed by aviation designer Burt Rutan for flights to altitudes of 62 miles above Earth. The flights would be suborbital: high enough to be in space but not fast enough to be in orbit.

SpaceShipOne was developed in secret for two years before it was unveiled in April. Rutan has said the project is funded by an anonymous backer.

SpaceShipOne was carried by a specially designed jet aircraft to an altitude of 48,000 feet yesterday before being released.

The craft was travelling near Mach 1.2 when the rocket shut down after firing for a total of 15 seconds. Binnie then put the craft into a vertical climb that topped out at 68,000 feet, the company said.

Binnie reconfigured the craft to its conventional shape and glided to touchdown when the left landing gear collapsed.

Success could bring Rutan a $10m (€8.1m) prize pledged to the first privately funded manned space flight. His cutting-edge designs include the first plane to make a nonstop, unrefuelled flight around the world.