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SpaceShipOne ranks among the world's first spaceplanes in the first 50 years of human spaceflight, with the North American X-15, Space Shuttle, Buran, and Boeing X-37. SpaceShipOne is the second spaceplane to have launched from a mother ship, preceded only by the North American X-15.
SpaceShipOne flight 16P on September 29, 2004 and SpaceShipOne flight 17P on October 4, 2004 were successful competitive flights, winning the X Prize. The Tier One program run by Scaled Composites concluded after the retirement of SpaceShipOne, transitioning to a successor program for customer Virgin Galactic .
Although not a Virgin Galactic launcher, SpaceShipOne was the direct predecessor of the Virgin Galactic vehicles, and served to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept. SpaceShipOne was an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (900 m/s), using a hybrid rocket ...
The White Knight and SpaceShipOne were designed by Burt Rutan and manufactured by Scaled Composites, a private company founded by Rutan in 1982. On three separate flights in 2004, White Knight conducted SpaceShipOne into flight, and SpaceShipOne then performed a sub-orbital spaceflight, becoming the first private craft to reach space.
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SpaceShipOne takes off. X PRIZE rules required that the date and place of competitive flights be announced to the X PRIZE Foundation at least 60 days before the flight. Due to problems encountered during flight 15P on June 21, 2004, Scaled Composites did not immediately set a date for their competitive flights, suspecting that another test flight might be required.
SpaceShipOne reached space with a pilot in three test flights in 2004. Tier One is Scaled Composites' program of suborbital human spaceflight using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne and its launcher White Knight. The craft are designed by Burt Rutan, and the project is funded 20 million US Dollars by Paul Allen.
Mike Melvill displayed great excitement, waving to the crowd while standing on top of SpaceShipOne. He also held up a sign reading "SpaceShipOne, GovernmentZero," given to him by a spectator - an apparent reference to the then-ongoing suspension of Space Shuttle flight operations following the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-107.