प्रवेशद्वार:अंतरिक्ष उड़ान/Selected article/24

मुक्त ज्ञानकोश विकिपीडिया से
Mike Melvill is greated following his successful flight.

Flight 15P of SpaceShipOne (X0) was the first privately funded human spaceflight. It took place on June 21, 2004. It was the fourth powered test flight of the Tier One program, the previous three test flights having reached much lower altitudes. The flight carried only its pilot, Mike Melvill, who thus became the first non-governmental astronaut.

This flight was a full-altitude test. SpaceShipOne was dropped from its carrier aircraft, White Knight, at 14:50 UTC (7:50am PDT), at an altitude of 47,000 फीट (14,000 मी॰), and fired its on-board rocket for 76 seconds. It reached a peak altitude of 328,491 फीट (100,124 मी॰), becoming the first commercial manned spacecraft to cross the Karman line. It landed safely at Mojave Air and Space Port, California, 15:14 UTC (8:14am PDT).

Flight 15P was a test flight to prepare Scaled Composites to compete for the Ansari X Prize, the prize for the first non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft. Scaled Composites would win the Ansari X Prize in October 2004 after two more successful flights.