He’s the Rocket Man! ; It’s an Awesome Thing, Says Pilot, 62, After First Private Space Flight

HIS feet had touched the ground again, but Mike Melvill’s head was still high above the clouds yesterday.

The jubilant 62-year- old grandfather had just become the first astronaut to pilot a privately-financed flight into space.

He took his SpaceShipOne craft 62 miles above the surface of the Earth and back safely, describing the flight later as ‘almost a religious experience’.

Thousands gathered in a carnival atmosphere in the California desert to see him make history.

Following the success, experts predicted that tourists could be lining up for affordable space flights within ten years.

Forty-three years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, Melvill’s journey was done for a fraction of the cost of the missions by the governmentfunded U.S. space agency Nasa.

SpaceShipOne, fuelled by a mixture of liquid rubber and nitrous oxide laughing gas was slung under the belly of a futuristic jet, White Knight, which took off soon after dawn.

At 50,000ft Melvill’s craft was released and shot straight up in the clear blue sky, nosing into space at three times the speed of sound before heading back to Earth.

Around 90 minutes after takeoff, Melvill was cheered as he glided the rocket into a perfect landing back at Mojave Airport, about 65 miles north of Los Angeles.

He spent only a brief period outside the Earth’s atmosphere, experiencing weightlessness for about three minutes at the top of the climb.

Melvill, who was born in South Africa, but lived in England with his wife, Sally, before moving to the U.S. in the 1970s, said: ‘The colours were pretty staggering from up there.

‘It’s an awesome thing to see, you can see the curvature of the Earth. You have got a hell of a view from 62 miles.’ He described being bounced about in his seat as the craft approached supersonic speed.

‘You can hear this incredible rushing sound like some hurricane coming by.

The thing just has a high-frequency roar to it, that’s very, very intimidating.’ There was a scare during the ascent when he heard a loud bang.

After landing, Melvill pointed to a spot of buckled metal near the rear of the craft as a possible cause.

The flight, funded by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, cost about Pounds 14million. Nasa missions cost around 25 times as much.

It brought the design team, led by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, closer to a Pounds 5.5million prize set up in 1996 to encourage commercial space travel.

The X-Prize, offered by a privatelyfunded foundation whose members include former U.S.

astronaut John Glenn and film star Tom Hanks, will go to the first group to put a three-seater craft 62.5 miles above the Earth twice within two weeks.

Rutan said yesterday: ‘I’m ready to go, boy, I am ready to go, and we are going to win the X-Prize. Put your money on it.’ Three British teams are also after the prize. They are Bristol Spaceplanes, based in Bristol; Flight Exploration from London; and Starchaser Industries from Cheshire.