SpaceShipOne wins the XPrize
Pictures by Stratofox team members

X-Prize Flight 2: SpaceShipOne is shown to the crowd

By successfully making his first space flight and flying the X-Prize winning flight, Brian Binnie became the world's second civilian astronaut. As SpaceShipOne was brought by the excited and appreciative crowd, Brian waved a flag which had flown in space aboard SpaceShipOne with him.

On this day the number of civilian astronauts in the world went up by one. Most or all of us in the audience dream of the day when that number goes up again, that time being our turn to finally fly in space and see that view of the Earth out the window. For all of us that day is now closer.

Congratulations to Scaled Composites on winning the X-Prize. We can't thank you enough for bringing your spacecraft in front of us just after the flight.

(all pictures on this page are by Ian Kluft)

(3072x2048 2682K) (500x333 25K)	The crowd in the VIP area now watches as SpaceShipOne is towed toward them.
(3072x2048 2790K) (500x333 26K)	The vertical stabilizers (tail) of SpaceShipOne is visible behind the VIP area crowd as it's brought to the area where a short press conference will be held.
(3072x2048 2818K) (500x333 26K)	SpaceShipOne is parked for the initial short press conference.
(3072x2048 2711K) (500x333 25K)	Peter Diamandis stands on the platform to say that the judges have determined SpaceShipOne won the XPrize.
(3072x2048 2864K) (500x333 26K)	Brian Binnie, the world's second civilian astronaut, stands on the platform to speak. He thanks everyone he can think of. Just like last week when we heard from Mike Melvill, Binnie sounds like someone we'd all like a chance to meet some day.
(3072x2048 2661K) (500x333 26K)	Burt Rutan stands on the platform to speak. He had words about the struggle to get to this point, answers for "the naysayers in Houston", and said he would ask Paul Allen for a portion of the prize money to be divided up among all of Scaled Composites' employees. The crowd cheered.
(3072x2048 2999K) (500x333 26K)	Burt Rutan stands on the platform to speak.
(3072x2048 2612K) (500x333 25K)	The crowd in the general public viewing area watches in the direction of the VIP/press stands while the audio plays over the public address system. Someone even climbed one of the light towers for a better view.
(3072x2048 3045K) (500x333 30K)	Viewing to the left of the VIP/press area, Orbital Sciences' "Stargazer" plane is a notable display. This plane is used as a carrier for drop-launching Orbital's Pegasus small-satellite launcher rocket. Orbital put the plane on display for this event because Scaled Composites makes the wings for their Pegasus rocket.
(3072x2048 2674K) (500x333 24K)	SpaceShipOne is towed in front of the VIP viewing area.
(3072x2048 2638K) (500x333 24K)	SpaceShipOne is towed in front of the VIP viewing area.
(3072x2048 1654K) (500x333 6K)	The F4 Phantom took off as soon as the runways were opened again. It took some days to find out the real story behind it, since it had US Air Force markings but was clearly taking off from the civilian Mojave Airport. So here's what happenned... Mojave Airport tenant BEA Systems has a contract to modify these F4's. This one was waiting to depart for delivery back to the Air Force.
(3072x2048 1600K) (500x333 5K)	A US Air Force F4 Phantom takes off from the Mojave Airport, being delivered from military contractor BEA Systems after performing modifications.
(3072x2048 2350K) (500x333 22K)	SpaceShipOne is towed toward the general public viewing area. Brian Binnie, now the world's second civilian astronaut, stands atop the spacecraft.
(3072x2048 2409K) (500x333 21K)	SpaceShipOne is towed toward the general public viewing area.
(3072x2048 2506K) (500x333 22K)	SpaceShipOne is towed toward the general public viewing area.
(3072x2048 2517K) (500x333 22K)	SpaceShipOne is towed toward the general public viewing area.
(3072x2048 2610K) (500x333 17K)	SpaceShipOne is towed toward the general public viewing area.
(3072x2048 2385K) (500x333 23K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie waves the flag for the crowd.
(3072x2048 2600K) (500x333 24K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie stands on top of SpaceShipOne as it's towed in front of the general public viewing area.
(3072x2048 2206K) (500x333 18K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie stands on top of SpaceShipOne. The flag that he's waving is one that flew into space with him.
(3072x2048 2032K) (500x333 17K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie on top of SpaceShipOne.
(3072x2048 1889K) (500x333 15K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie on top of SpaceShipOne.
(3072x2048 2084K) (500x333 18K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie on top of SpaceShipOne.
(3072x2048 1980K) (500x333 15K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie on top of SpaceShipOne.
(3072x2048 2605K) (500x333 22K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie on top of SpaceShipOne.
(3072x2048 2366K) (500x333 18K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie stands on top of SpaceShipOne.
(3072x2048 2020K) (500x333 15K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie waves the flag on top of SpaceShipOne for the crowd.
(3072x2048 2223K) (500x333 18K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie waves the flag on top of SpaceShipOne for the crowd.
(3072x2048 2300K) (500x333 19K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie waves the flag on top of SpaceShipOne for the crowd.
(3072x2048 2262K) (500x333 17K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie waves the flag on top of SpaceShipOne for the crowd.
(3072x2048 1893K) (500x333 12K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie waves the flag on top of SpaceShipOne for the crowd.
(3072x2048 2279K) (500x333 15K)	Civilian astronaut Brian Binnie waves the flag on top of SpaceShipOne for the crowd.
(3072x2048 2272K) (500x333 22K)	On the tailgate of the pickup truck towing SpaceShipOne, from left to right: Richard Branson (Virgin Airways, UK), Burt Rutan (Scaled Composites) and Paul Allen (Vulcan Ventures).
(3072x2048 2197K) (500x333 15K)	Brian Binnie holds the flag for the crowd as SpaceShipOne is towed further down Taxiway Alpha for the general public to see.
(3072x2048 2419K) (500x333 16K)	Brian Binnie holds the flag for the crowd as SpaceShipOne is towed further down Taxiway Alpha for the general public to see.
(3072x2048 2653K) (500x333 16K)	Brian Binnie holds the flag for the crowd as SpaceShipOne is towed further down Taxiway Alpha for the general public to see.
(3072x2048 1723K) (500x333 9K)	Brian Binnie holds the flag for the crowd as SpaceShipOne is towed further down Taxiway Alpha for the general public to see.
(3072x2048 1917K) (500x333 11K)	Brian Binnie holds the flag for the crowd as SpaceShipOne is towed from the general public viewing area back to the Scaled hangar. Brian was bound for the pilot debriefing and then the main press conference.

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.