At last after 8 years the Ansari X Prize has been won by SpaceShipOne. The second flight took place today and was successful in meeting the criteria to claim the prize. For a time I thought that the British entry, Starchaser, was ahead of the pack but early last year it was clear to see that the American teams had a lead in the race to win the prize. The final flight looked superb and a lot more stable than the first one….just need to start saving for the trip on Virgin Galactic.
Tag: space
Irony
It’s a big news day for the Virgin group. Branson has announced that they intend to run a space flight service and he’s bought 5 spaceships (stuffily called spaceliners on the BBC). You too could go into space…for £100,000 or maybe less. Nice.
Today’s also the first full day for the Pendolino (tilting) service the Virgin train group are introducing. Pity the first one was cancelled. One from Glasgow has also crawled into Carlisle at 50 Mph due to technical difficulties. Still fancy that space trip?
Mars Rover
Way cool – the first pictures from the Mars Rover are superb. Just hope the rover moves OK after the weekend.
Will Beagle Succeed?
I can’t wait to find out if the Beagle 2 probe lands and communicates from Mars. Considering the risky steps it needs to take to land you would have to say the chances are slim.
But it captures the imagination in a similar way to the first Shuttle launch. I remember watching the launch when I was in primary school. Superb. Good luck Beagle.