Space Ship Blasts Off in Bid to Win Pounds 5. 5m Prize

A TEAM of aviation pioneers were today attempting to clinch a pounds 5. 5m prize by launching a craft beyond the Earth’s atmosphere for the second time in a week.

On Wednesday, Space Ship One made an inelegant second ascent, rolling more than two dozen times as it rocketed into sub-orbital space.

Flight controllers and spectators watched in horror as the craft appeared to spin out of control over California’s Mojave Desert, but pilot Mike Melvill regained control and brought the ship safely back to Earth.

If the craft made the target height once again today, the pioneers would win the pounds 5. 5m Ansari X-Prize, set up in 1996 for the first team to privately finance and build a vessel capable of carrying three passengers 62 miles high.

Space Ship One’s design team dreams of offering tourist trips into space.

The concept has inspired Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which he hopes will offer space tourism by 2007-8.