100_0605
Date: 06/21/2004
Picture of Mt. Hamilton on the flight from Reid-Hillview (San Jose) to Meadows Field (Bakersfield). Taken from the Cessna 177RG Cardinal that we rented for the trip.
100_0606
Date: 06/21/2004
Private Jet (I think it's a Cessna Citation of some kind) arriving at Mojave for the launch. We saw many jets land, most before it was too light to take pictures. Some Gulfstreams, and even a T-38.
100_0610
Date: 06/21/2004
An Extra 300 owned by one of the Scaled Composites design engineers. It is a purpose built aerobatic plane. If you've ever seen one at an airshow, you'll know how agile this little plane is.
100_0611
Date: 06/21/2004
The Extra 300 is used for unusual attitude training for the SpaceShip One pilots, as well as flying very close chase towards the end of the flight to assist the SpaceShip One pilot in landing.
100_0612
Date: 06/21/2004
My first glimpse of the White Knight carrying SpaceShip One beneath it. It was waaaaaay down the runway when I first saw it, so I held my camera up to my binoculars, and took a picture. Credit goes to my friend Nick (who also flew us to the launch) for that technique.
100_0617
Date: 06/21/2004
Cue the Raytheon Starship. Not to be confused with SpaceShip One. This airplane is used as a high altitude chase plane for the White Knight, and it carries Scaled Composite's company photographer.
100_0618
Date: 06/21/2004
This is a Burt Rutan design (the designer of SpaceShip One) and was originally built as the Beech Starship before Raytheon bought Beech. It is designed to be a corporate plane, to compete with Learjets and the like.
100_0619
Date: 06/21/2004
Unfortunately, the aviation industry is very conservative, and it did not sell well. 53 were built, and Raytheon is now in the process of scrapping the ones they never sold, and buying back the ones they sold and scrapping them.
100_0620
Date: 06/21/2004
At least one customer has refused to sell his back. This is his airplane. Read more about this beautiful plane here:
http://www.bobscherer.com/Pages/Starship.htm
http://www.bobscherer.com/Pages/Starship.htm
100_0625
Date: 06/21/2004
The White Knight, with SpaceShip One underneath, takeoff roll and climb in the next few pictures.
100_0631
Date: 06/21/2004
Dassault-Breguet/Dornier Alphajet.
An advanced jet trainer built in the early 70's, a collaboration of the French and German airforces. Used for filming the launch from the backseat, to be used in a Discovery Channel documentary.
An advanced jet trainer built in the early 70's, a collaboration of the French and German airforces. Used for filming the launch from the backseat, to be used in a Discovery Channel documentary.
100_0632
Date: 06/21/2004
The Alphajet took off about 10 minutes after the Starship and White Knight. The announcer on the PA said the Alphajet had better climb performance than the other two, and would be at altitude on time.
100_0637
Date: 06/21/2004
The White Knight returns. SpaceShip One
has already landed. I didn't get any pictures of it's return because I had moved up to the fence to see better, but left my camera where I had been sitting. Oops! I figured I'd rather be sure to see the landing rather than attempt to get my camera, and get back to the fence in time, and possibly miss it. If you want to see the landing, search the news web sites.
has already landed. I didn't get any pictures of it's return because I had moved up to the fence to see better, but left my camera where I had been sitting. Oops! I figured I'd rather be sure to see the landing rather than attempt to get my camera, and get back to the fence in time, and possibly miss it. If you want to see the landing, search the news web sites.
100_0638
Date: 06/21/2004
The White Knight makes a beautiful pass overhead showing its unique configuration.
100_0641
Date: 06/21/2004
The 3 chase planes return. The Extra 300
on the left, the Starship in the middle, and the Alphajet on the right.
on the left, the Starship in the middle, and the Alphajet on the right.
100_0644
Date: 06/21/2004
The Alphajet breaks left to enter the landing pattern. The other two follow in sequence soon after.
100_0646
Date: 06/21/2004
Here is SpaceShip One being towed along the flight line after landing. You can see the elbow of the person in front of me. We are both up against the fence. You can also see the taxiway all the planes used before takeoff. It should give you an idea of just how close I was to the aircraft as they taxied by.
100_0647
Date: 06/21/2004
OK, so I took a bazillion pictures of SpaceShip One as it paraded by after the flight. I'll put captions under the better pictures. Notice the Mike Melville is standing on top of SpaceShip One as they tow it. I was a little concerned that he would fall off and hurt himself after surviving a flight into space. :-)
100_0665
Date: 06/21/2004
Burt Rutan (the guy in the yellow shirt) saw something in the crowd he liked, so he jumped off the pickup (it was standing still at the time) and ran to the fence and got something from one of the spectators.
100_0667
Date: 06/21/2004
Oh looky! It's a sign! I thought it was a clever play on words, and definately a nice gesture. They even had it printed up nicely. Sure beats cardboard and crayon. :-)
100_0668
Date: 06/21/2004
One thing to note in this picture is a piece of evidence that shows this flight was not perfect. Several problems were noted, and one of them was a dent in the fairing under the rocket's exhaust nozzle. You can see it clearly if you look at the full res picture. The Extra 300 chase pilot got up good and close to look at that dent as SpaceShip One coasted back to the airport. We heard him on the radio say that there was definately a dent, but it didn't look like it should affect flight handling.
100_0673
Date: 06/21/2004
One last picture. You can see the porthole through which the pilot enters the craft. We left a few minutes later, made our way back to Bakersfield, and flew to Harris Ranch steak house for lunch (I had a delicious Filet Mignon) before finally heading home. WHAT A GREAT DAY IT WAS!!
