Commercial rocket makes aviation history

Space tourism came a step closer today when a private commercial rocket flew into the near reaches of space for the first time.

The privately-funded SpaceShipOne craft made aviation history when it flew more than 62 miles above the surface of the Earth.

It also brought the design team, led by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, closer to a €8.3m prize set up to encourage commercial space travel in the future.

The craft, piloted by Mike Melvill, 62, took off from the Mojave desert in California at 2.47pm Irish time, 17 minutes behind schedule.

A rocket, called White Knight, carried SpaceShipOne high into the air before the two craft separated and SpaceShipOne’s jets boosted it beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.

The two craft returned to Earth one hour and 28 minutes later, making a safe touch down in the desert in California at 4.15pm Irish time.

Thousands of people gathered in the desert to watch history being made.

Mr Rutan, who has been granted the first licence to launch a manned sub-orbital rocket, predicted recently that affordable space travel would be available within 10 years.

Mr Rutan became famous in the aviation world in 1986 when his Voyager plane made the first non-stop flight around the world without refuelling.

The commercial space race has been accelerated by the prize offered under a contest called the X-Prize, which will give the cash to the first group to put a three-seater craft 62.5 miles above the Earth twice within two weeks.

The X-Prize, which began in 1996, was set up by a privately-funded foundation.

Supporters include Dennis Tito, the American who spent €16.6m to fly in a Russian craft as the first space tourist.

Other backers are pilot Erik Lindbergh, the grandson of Charles Lindbergh, former astronaut and US senator John Glenn, and film star Tom Hanks.

Some 27 contestants from seven countries have registered for the X-Prize competition.

Three British teams are among the entrants. They are Bristol Spaceplanes, based in Bristol; Flight Exploration from London, and Starchaser Industries from Cheshire.