SpaceShipOne wins the XPrize
Pictures by Stratofox team members

X-Prize Flight 1: Early on Launch Day

Only a small contingent from Stratofox could make it for this mid-week launch. Everyone had something go wrong with their plans but we ended up all getting together for an RV rental. This group was Stratofox Coordinator Sean Lynch (plus his wife Alexia and her friend Anne) and Stratofox member Ian Kluft.

These are Ian's pictures from Wednesday morning before the first chase plane taxied out.

(all pictures on this page are by Ian Kluft)

(3072x2048 2952K) (500x333 11K)	This is a pre-dawn view of the Mojave Airport. Someone walked through the left side of the view after I opened the exposure, so that kind of gives you an idea that this took several seconds to take this picture in the dark.
(3072x2048 2940K) (500x333 11K)	Mojave Airport in the dark before dawn. The orange fence is the airport restricted area, not the crowd line. Security wasn't letting people any closer than where my camera was. Though without even a line to mark the crowd limit, there was continuous tension between the crowd (always trying to inch forward) and security (always trying to move us back.)
(3072x2048 2451K) (500x333 7K)	Morning twilight begins to show in the east.
(3072x2048 2516K) (500x333 6K)	Morning twilight begins to show in the east.
(3072x2048 2796K) (500x333 9K)	Bright lights were turned on at the VIP viewing area near the air traffic control tower.
(3072x2048 2751K) (500x333 9K)	Bright lights were turned on at the VIP viewing area near the air traffic control tower.
(3072x2048 2949K) (500x333 12K)	Bright lights were turned on at the VIP viewing area near the air traffic control tower.
(3072x2048 2869K) (500x333 13K)	With the zoom lens, I could see some of the crowd at the VIP area.
(3072x2048 2505K) (500x333 4K)	The full moon got low in the western sky near sunrise.
(3072x2048 2433K) (500x333 4K)	The full moon got low in the western sky near sunrise.
(3072x2048 3021K) (500x333 15K)	This is another view of the crowd at the VIP area, with a little more light as sunrise approaches.
(3072x2048 2666K) (500x333 22K)	This is a view of the crowd before dawn, looking south along the crowd line.
(3072x2048 2900K) (500x333 20K)	This is a view of the crowd before dawn, looking north along the crowd line.
(3072x2048 1766K) (500x333 6K)	The eastern sky turns red before sunrise.
(3072x2048 1804K) (500x333 7K)	Two volcanic cones become visible in the east before sunrise.
(3072x2048 1738K) (500x333 7K)	Sunrise at Mojave.
(3072x2048 1736K) (500x333 6K)	Sunrise at Mojave.
(3072x2048 3047K) (500x333 16K)	Security was always present. It appeared that the Civil Air Patrol and Kern County Sheriff made up the security around the general public viewing area.
(3072x2048 2052K) (500x333 12K)	Sunrise lights up the hills north of Mojave. Airliners in temporary storage parking area have become plainly visible.
(3072x2048 2348K) (500x333 13K)	Sunrise lights up the hills north of Mojave. Airliners in temporary storage parking area have become plainly visible.

Back up to Stratofox's pictures of SpaceShipOne's XPrize space flights.

Web text copyright 2004 by Stratofox, a Special Interest Group of the South Bay Community Network, Silicon Valley, California
All pictures copyright 2004 by their photographers. Any publication or redistribution of these pictures requires permission. Permission is available upon request and will require crediting the photographers for their pictures.