I have the webcast running on my screen (follow the "Webcast" link from this page) and plan to update as time permits today.

Update 08:17 CDT (GMT -6): Via Rand Simberg, HobbySpace provides this schedule of events:

1. White Knight with the SpaceShipOne will taxi to the runway at California's Mojave airport at 6:30 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. EDT; 1330 GMT).
2. Airborne around 6:45 a.m. PDT (9:45 a.m. EDT; 1345 GMT).
3. About an hour later White Knight will reach an altitude of nearly 50,000 feet where SS1 is dropped at 7:45 a.m. PDT (10:45 a.m. EDT; 1445 GMT) and SS1 ignites its rocket engine
4. Powered flight of about 80 seconds
5. SpaceShipOne coasts up to an altitude of at least 62 miles and then reenters the atmosphere
6. Glides to a landing on the Mojave runway by 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT; 1530 GMT)

Update 08:19 CDT: The live webcast is quite congested. If it keeps up, I'm not sure how much of this I'll get to see "live".

Update 08:23 CDT: Space.com is running an update page, too.

Update 08:44 CDT: Mike Melvill will be the pilot for today's flight. Webcasters reporting he has flown more Rutan prototypes than any other pilot.

Update 09:02 CDT: White Knight is pulling out now, preparing for takeoff.

Update 09:15 CDT: White Knight is airborne.

Update 09:24 CDT: As White Knight gains altitude, the webcast cuts to a video recapping the conditions necessary to win the Ansari X-Prize and gives some background on the X-Prize history and concept. Good information for the casual observer.

Update 09:31 CDT: I just noticed the Virgin logo on SS1. Surely a result of this deal announced two days ago.

Update 09:37 CDT: White Knight/SpaceShipOne Separation to occur in about 40 minutes. No updates expected until then.

Update 09:43 CDT: X-Prize benefactor Anousheh Ansari is speaking. I think I'm going to award her a special X-prize-edition-honorary-SF-Babe prize (this is Science Fiction coming true, after all!)

Update 09:47 CDT: NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe speaking now. (Personal comment: "Regards to Captain Dunsel.")

Update 10:10 CDT: Separation! Godspeed, Mike Melvill!

Update 10:11 CDT: Rocket firing - SS1 is in a roll -- "Uh-oh... unscripted maneuver" -- engines shutdown.

Update 10:13 CDT: SS1 is in its "shuttlecock position" made it to 338,000 feet (~102 km). They made it!!! (Update in an update: awaiting official confirmation).

Update 10:17 CDT: Transition from shuttlecock to normal wings-locked flight -- SS1 is now a glider on the way home!

Update 10:18 CDT: Sonic boom in Mojave. Mike's on the way... green for landing ... descending.

Update 10:33 CDT: Flanked by chase planes, SS1 is making its final approach...

Update 10:34 CDT: Touchdown! Rutan and company now have two weeks to make another attempt (assuming official certification of the altitude).

Update 10:38 CDT: The White Knight carrier plane has just touched down safely.

Update 10:50-52 CDT: Nice views of SpaceShipOne being towed by the bandstand. Nice touch with American flag waving. "This magic day when super-science mingles with the bright stuff of dreams..." Melvill emerges from cockpit. Greeted by Burt Rutan. Lots of pictures for posterity.

Update 10:56 CDT: Melvill called the unscripted maneuver a "victory roll." SS1 "flies like a dream." He shut off the engine about 11 seconds earlier than automatic shutoff.

Update 11:02 CDT: "Major New Announcement" coming up shortly. Developing...

Update 11:09 CDT: Diamandis announcing the "X-Prize Cup" -- similar to a "Grand Prix" of space vehicles, to take place once a year in New Mexico. Marketing the concept of live TV coverage, corporate sponsorship, etc. This was announced several months ago, so I don't know if this really counts as a major "new" announcement.

That wraps up my live coverage for today. Check back tonight for additional commentary and links. Thanks!

Update 12:51 CDT: Since I won't be updating for the rest of the workday, be sure to check SpaceFlightNow and Space.com throughout the day for updates.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In slightly less than 10 hours, Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne should be making its first official qualifying flight for the Ansari X-Prize.

Since Haiku seems to be the preferred form of Munuvian poetry, I thought I would offer up a single haiku for the occasion:

Fall. Desert morning.
Composite skin gleaming white.
SpaceShipOne takes flight.

If you hear a muse whispering in your ear, leave the whisperings in comments or post them at your own site and track back to here.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:01 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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NASA has extended the missions of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers for another 6 months.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Over the past week, Xeni Jardin (co-editor of BoingBoing and Wired contributor) has posted a series of articles (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10) on her experience flying with Zero Gravity Corporation (Zero-G), a company founded by X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis, to offer its customers commercial weightless flights in a specially modified 727-200 aircraft.

Today, Rand Simberg discusses Alan Boyle's report on Zero-G's inaugural flights, mentioning that Diamandis faced a 10-year process of jumping over regulatory hurdles erected by the FAA. This is shocking. The technique used to create weightlessness using a parabolic arc flight-path is not really novel; it's been around for decades. I would think that informed consent is all that's really required. Geez.

At about $3000 for the flight, I don't think I'll be trying this soon, but it certainly brings an astronaut experience closer and closer to normal, paying customers.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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MSNBC and the Desert News report that Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites will be responsible for carrying the X-37 technology demonstrator to altitude for test drops.

Contrary to the first report in the Desert News, Scaled has not yet confirmed whether the White Knight will be the ship that carries the X-37, as it does SpaceShipOne.

I find this very interesting, given Rutan's recent statements about developing an orbital analogue of SpaceShipOne as the next step in his business plan. I also find it interesting that the program has been transferred from NASA to an "unnamed government agency."

This is one to watch, folks.

Update: According to Keith Cowing's source, the "unnamed agency" is DARPA.

Update: And here's more from Space.com on the X-37 program and its transfer to DARPA.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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. . . because I find this fascinating.

(Hat tip: Timothy Sandefur).

Posted by: JohnL at 10:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The Canuck da Vinci Project has thrown its hat into the X-Prize ring, announcing today that they will make an attempt at their first flight on October 2, 2004, just a few days after Scaled Composites' first attempt.

Rand Simberg has the goods (check his comments, too).

You can also find a good collection of links about this at the Ansari X-Prize Space Race News site.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This NASA site is a great place to start your virtual exploration of the Red Planet.

I would love to go there in person someday. Not likely to happen, but I can dream.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It's official.

The Scaled Composites team yesterday gave their 60-day notice to the X-Prize Foundation that they will make an official attempt at the X-Prize: two flights into space within a two-week period carrying two passengers (or the weight equivalent of two passengers).

That means the first flight could take off at least as early as September 29 and the second flight no later than 14 days later than the first.

The Canadian Da Vinci team also announced that they will roll out their balloon-lofted launch vehicle next week. No official announcement of an attempt at the prize by them yet.

"Technology high. . . on the leading edge of life."

Very cool. More details to follow.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It looks like the X-Prize Foundation will be making "several key announcements" on July 27. Perhaps formal 60-day notices of one or more attempts at the prize?

That's an auspicious day, in any event, as I will be celebrating 13 years of wedded bliss with my lovely wife.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Excellent article at TechCentralStation on the long-term importance of SpaceShipOne (and others like it).

Posted by: JohnL at 10:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Via Hobbyspace, a link to a website where you can leave a congratulatory message to the earth's first truly private astronaut, Mike Melvill.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I hesitate to use breathless hyperbole, but today was really the dawning of a new space age, the age of private exploration and development of outer space. As Dale Amon describes it, we are now moving away from linear-growth government programs to exponential-growth entrepreneurialism. Maybe I will get to space sometime in my life, after all.

I don't have cable or satellite TV, and I couldn't get Real Player to work worth a flip on my work computer, so I missed the live video coverage of the event. Based on my morning channel-surfing, the three network morning "news" programs were asleep at the switch, reporting on Bill Clinton's post-affair sleeping arrangements instead of this. Kudos to the local Fox affiliate for carrying a substantial amount of live pre-launch coverage (and though I didn't see it, they were promising to bring live footage of the flight, too).

From what I've seen and read, the flight was successful though not flawless. There were some kinks to work out, but overall this was a momentous occasion.

For web coverage of space issues, it's always a great idea to start with Rand Simberg, and today was no exception. In a later post, he links to this great play-by-play from Kevin Murphy.

One of my favorite Australians, Alan Brain, also has a good account of the flight, along with some coverage of the difficulties alluded to above.

Spaceflight Now also has a nice play-by-play status log of the flight.

The mainstream media also did a fine job covering the event on the Internet in more detail than I expected based on the lack of interest by the major broadcast media in the US.

Whether or not they win the X-Prize, Scaled Composites have broken down the "giggle factor" barrier to private investment in space. What a great feeling - a "magic day when super-science mingles with the bright stuff of dreams" as described in the Rush song Countdown (lyrics in the extended entry):
more...

Posted by: JohnL at 11:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Scaled Composites appears to have the X-Prize all but in the bag. They are making this look all too easy. I hope they have continued success, and I look forward to their next flight.

This is getting some mainstream coverage, in addition to many mentions in the blogosphere.

A couple of cool pictures from Scaled's website in the extended entry:
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QuantumBlog provides a nice collection of links today to keep handy if you want to try to spot the international space station or other space objects:

Heavens Above
Science@NASA
NASA's SkyWatch

Enjoy!

Posted by: JohnL at 09:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Following up on my post from last night/this morning, here are some videos showing what it's like when the "up" part is not so perfect, and quickly becomes the "down" part.

(Hat tip: Alan Brain).

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The ‘up’ part was perfect. I need to work on the ‘down’ part.

So quoth Ted, in an entertaining summary of the first day of the Battlepark 2004 rocket-fest.

As far as working on the "down" part, he shows us some pictures of the aftermath of the Air Munuviana crash.

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Here's one that should warm Ted's heart.

Today, my elder son's Webelos den met at a local park to shoot off rockets that they had built last week. This was my son's first rocket to build and today was his first rocket launch.

The weather was perfect, except for a slightly stronger wind than ideal. Sunny, temps in the mid-70s.

The rockets that the boys built were simple little A-engine no-parachute numbers. Several didn't go very high, and a few exploded when the engine's parachute charge went off, but my son's survived all four launches (and crash landings!) intact.

I've included some pictures in the extended entry.
more...

Posted by: JohnL at 09:28 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Also via The Eternal Golden Braid, this assessment of the three personality types of space geeks.

I think they omitted a very important type - the Heinleinian/Pournellian. Shares many traits with the O'Neillians, but also believes in a strong military role in space.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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