Organizers of the Ansari X Prize announced Friday that SpaceShipOne will launch as planned on Oct. 4 to seal its victory for the competition's $10 million award. The second voyage of Paul Allen's ...

Linehan traces every one of SpaceShipOne's flights, beginning with the first unpowered tests in the spring of 2003 and climaxing with the three honest-to-goodness spaceflights of 2004. Photos and ...

Although NASA’s Project Mercury and SpaceShipOne served very different objectives, a closer look reveals that both missions were powered by equal parts of competition, innovation, and a strong dose of ...

It was a one-of-a-kind moment for a throng of well-wishers, including this reporter, all in nose-up, sky-squinting position at California's Mojave Airport on June 21, 2004. Let loose from its White ...

Nobody can claim that Burt Rutan, the innovative aerospace designer, doesn’t have his head in the clouds … and his eyes focused on the stars. Fresh from success of nudging the piloted SpaceShipOne’s ...

Scaled Composites is planning changes for its SpaceShipOne rocket glider, following a pitchup incident in flight test that showed the current configuration is not safe for the planned flight to 100 km ...

Pioneering aircraft designer Burt Rutan, whose Space- ShipOne manned rocket became the first privately funded vehicle to reach space last month, said Tuesday that he would try to win the $10-million ...

MOJAVE, Calif.--A venture backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen got a jump Wednesday on rivals eyeing a $10 million prize for the first privately funded junkets into space and back. A specialized ...

Part 2 explores the dramatically different approaches to the launch systems, and the surprising similarities in the factors that contributed to their success. Although they served very different ...