SpaceShipOne Soars to Space for $10M Prize

MOJAVE, Calif. – A stubby rocket plane soared off a Mojave desert runway Monday strapped to the belly of a carrier plane, shooting for the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere and a $10 million prize.

Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen’s SpaceShipOne launched Monday on the belly of a carrier plane. After about an hour, the plane was to release SpaceShipOne in an attempt to continue on its own to an altitude of at least 328,000 feet, or just over 62 miles, for the second time since Sept. 29.

That would qualify its backers to clinch the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million award to the first craft to safely complete two flights to an altitude of 328,000 feet – generally considered to be the point where the Earth’s atmosphere ends and space begins – in a 14-day span.