And The Crowd Goes Wild
By ANN Contributing Correspondent Wes Oleszewski
SpaceShipOne is towed to the ramp and the crowd goes wild...
well as wild as an aviation bunch can get.
When White Knight departed with SpaceShipOne slung beneath its
belly early Monday morning, there was an air of anticipation that
hung over the Mojave airport. The weather was calm, warm and clear
and the crowds were far bigger than four days earlier. This was it,
this was the shot at the Grand Prize, this one would be for the
coveted X Prize.
In short order the mated aircraft and their chase planes vanish
from sight. The crowd is left to wait for the next half hour until
the two contrails are seen in the lower southwestern sky. They
belong to White Knight and its Starship chase plane. The best view,
however, is on the jumbo TV where SpaceShipOne's onboard camera is
showing nearly the entire vehicle. The best listening is in the
crowd where several spectators have hand-held scanners and are
tuned to the air to ground communications. At ten seconds all eyes
look up to the contrails and a voice count marks the distance to
zero.
A clean drop is seen on the TV followed by ignition of
SpaceShipOne's engine. A cheer goes up from the crowd as a single
contrail breaks away from the others and in a slight curve begins
rapidly accelerate. With its thin trail of white SpaceShipOne
straightens its course and drives directly overhead. The long range
cameras at Edwards AFB are locked on the vehicle as it climbs,
steady as and arrow. Soon the onboard camera shows the background
sky change to dark black and the contrail fades to nothing.
Flashing back to the onboard view the SpaceShipOne's engine is seen
shutting down as the vehicle coasts upward.
Beyond the altitude to claim the X Prize and beyond the altitude
record of the famed X-15, SpaceShipOne begins to reconfigure into
the feather for reentry. A celebration cheer comes from the crowd
as the feather configuration locks in place. Those in the crowd who
know the ways of spaceflight know too well that the time to
celebrate does not come until the wheels stop on the runway.
Even at apogee, the cameras at Edwards give the crowd a clear
picture of SpaceShipOne as it floats back toward earth. The next
major event is the reconfiguration of the vehicle from feather to
the flight mode. That event takes place and soon the double sonic
boom sounds in the distance. SpaceShipOne is about to arrive.
In a scene that, over the last half century has been repeated in
this desert sky many times, the formation of SpaceShipOne and its
chase planes passes overhead. It is like a throwback to the golden
days of flight test, the formation banks toward final approach. Now
comes the final obstacle -- dropping the gear. Breaths are held in
thousands of chests and more than a few fingers are crossed. It all
seems to have gone too smoothly.
As expected, the landing rig of main wheels and nose skid snap
out and lock. Moments later, SpaceShipOne greases onto the runway
and rolls to a graceful stop on the centerline. Everyone in the
crowd now celebrates as the ground crews race to the spaceship.
Then, in the finest tradition of flight test, the mother ship White
Knight does a fly-by salute. And the crowd goes wild.