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Private Space Flight Bid Crashes in Flames

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 August 2004, 06:00 CDT

A TEAM taking a low-budget stab at the pounds 6m Ansari X Prize for private manned space flight suffered a setback when their rocket exploded after shooting less than 1, 000 feet in the air.

No one was hurt in the test of the Rubicon 1 just south of Olympic National Park at Queets, Washington.

The 23-foot-long, 38-inch-diameter spacecraft held three dummies simulating astronauts.

The rocket, which crashed about 200 feet from take-off after its parachute failed to deploy, would have to be completely rebuilt, said Eric Meier, a mechanical engineer and co-founder of Space Transport, of Forks, Washington state.

Meier and partner Phillip Storm had hoped to reach supersonic speeds and an altitude of 20, 000 feet in the flight, but Meier seemed undeterred by the failure.

"We need to raise some more money . . . fix our problems and launch another low-altitude flight as soon as possible, " Meier said. "It's a learning experience to be expected when you're developing a vehicle with this kind of capabilities. "

More than two dozen teams are competing to win the X Prize, which is promised to the first organisation to successfully launch a privately financed, re-usable craft that makes a sub-orbital flight 62 miles high twice within two weeks while carrying a pilot and weight equivalent to two other people.

The first private manned space flight took place in June, when Space Ship One, a craft funded by billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and designed by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, reached the required altitude on a test flight.

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