SpaceShipOne

On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne , constructed in a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, completed the first manned private spaceflight. SpaceShipOne was built to compete in the Ansari X Prize, which offered a reward of 10 million for a non-government funded organization to launch a spacecraft into space. The spacecraft, piloted by astronaut Mike Melvill, flew into space reaching an altitude of 367,422 feet before reentering the atmosphere and gliding back to the Mojave airport, now renamed the Mojave spaceport.

This caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First of all, there's someone out there willing to build a spacecraft without government funding, spending a cool 25 million to compete in a contest with a prize of only 10 million. That speaks volumes about their passion to the business, winning not for the sake of prize, but winning for the sake of winning. Furthermore, it's interesting to see that someone else other than NASA can succeed at building a spaceship. Just about every major space event in the US was achieved by NASA, so it's refreshing to see that someone else can do it. And who knows, by being the first private spacecraft, SpaceShipOne could have been an important stepping stone in a private spacecraft business.

SpaceShipOne was launched on October 4 to celebrate Sputnik I, launched on October 4 in 1957. After its flight and victory in the Ansari X Prize, SpaceShipOne retired and now chills in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.