On June 21 2004, California-based test pilot Mike Melvill did something no one had ever done before; fly to space and back in the first privately developed spacecraft. As the first anniversary of that historic event nears; EAA Young Eagles is providing an opportunity for aviation-minded people to do something new as well. On Wednesday, June 15 between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. CDT, they can participate in a live webchat with the world’s first civilian astronaut.

“The flights of SpaceShipOne last year did more than capture a $10 million prize,” said Adam Smith, EAA vice president of outreach. “They captured the imagination of the entire country. As someone who made two of SpaceShipOne’s three flights, Mike Melvill has an incredible story to tell and is an ideal person to make available through our live webchat.”

A pilot with more than 7,000 hours of flight time, Melvill has been an experimental test pilot for more than 20 years. Over that time, he’s flown 140 different types of fixed and rotary wing aircraft. But even with this depth of experience, flying SpaceShipOne more than 100 kilometers above the earth was “a really good ride.” Just hours after SpaceShipOne’s maiden voyage, Melville became the first civilian to receive commercial astronaut wings from the FAA. To learn more about Melvill and his historic flight, visit the new EAA Young Eagles website at www.youngeagles.org and click on “web chat.”

The Young Eagles webchat offers visitors a monthly opportunity to ask questions of interesting people in aviation, and have them answered on the spot. These text-based webchats take place on the third Wednesday of the month from 7 pm to 8 pm CDT. Participants simply log in to the chat at www.youngeagles.org and fire away.

EAA’s Young Eagles Program was founded in 1992 and has provided more than one million free demonstration flights to young people around the world through the efforts of 37,000 volunteer pilots and 50,000 ground volunteers. EAA designed the Young Eagles website from the ground up and launched it in April 2005 to meet the information and interaction needs of young people. EAA spent more than a year in research and development to make the site a primary source of aviation information and entertainment for a growing number of teens.

FMI: www.youngeagles.org