Cuz We Said So

Amidst the endless reporting on the debate last week came the news that SpaceShipOne flew on Wednesday the first of two flights required to win the Ansari X Prize, flying to an altitude of greater than 100km and safely returning to earth.

Tomorrow (Monday) morning, pilot/astronaut Brian Binnie will attempt to repeat the accomplishment, securing the $10 million prize. A live webcast is due to start here at 6 am Pactific Time.

Speaking of private space flight... how cool is Virgin Galactic? Richard Branson plans to start charging $200,000 a seat for tourist flights out of Earth's atmosphere starting in 2007. Start saving up those pennies!

UPDATE: My mistake... I've corrected the name of the pilot in the post above; I originally said Mike Melvill, who flew last week's flight, would be the pilot today.

But never mind that--Glenn reports a successful landing!