SpaceShipOne flight 14P
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Flight 14P of SpaceShipOne was its third powered flight, which occurred on May 13 2004. The pilot was Mike Melvill.
SpaceShipOne was released from White Knight at an altitude of 46,000 feet (14.0 km) and a speed of 120 knots (62 m/s). After ten seconds the rocket was lit, for a 55 second burn.
At burn-out the altitude was 150,000 feet (45.7 km) and the Mach number was 2.5. The craft then coasted to an apogee altitude of 211,400 feet (64.3 km).
At one point during the flight, the avionics computer froze up and had to be rebooted. Melvill flew the aircraft manually until the computer became operable again.
During reentry the craft attained Mach 1.9 and deceleration of 3.5 g (34 m/s²). The craft switched to glider configuration at 55,000 feet (17.4 km). The craft returned to the spaceport and landed safely.
External links
- Video of the flight (http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/events04/sci/spaceship1/nb_60km)
- Scaled Composites' public flight log (http://scaled.com/projects/tierone/logs-WK-SS1.htm)