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Description
White Knight SpaceShip One
White Knight

The White Knight is a manned, twin-turbojet research aircraft intended for high-altitude missions. First flight was on August 1, 2002. Design mission - provides a high-altitude airborne launch of SpaceShipOne, a manned sub-orbital spacecraft. The White Knight is equipped to flight-qualify all the spacecraft systems, except rocket propulsion. The White Knight’s cockpit, avionics, ECS, pneumatics, trim servos, data system, and electrical system components are identical to those installed on SpaceShipOne. The White Knight’s high thrust-to-weight ratio and enormous speed brakes allow the astronauts in training to practice space flight maneuvers such as boost, approach, and landing with a very realistic environment. Thus, the aircraft serves as a high-fidelity moving-base simulator for SpaceShipOne pilot training.

Other White Knight mission capabilities include: reconnaissance, surveillance, atmospheric research, data relay, telecommunications, imaging & booster launch for micro-satellites.

FEATURES/CAPABILITIES:

* Carriage and launch of payloads up to 8,000 lbs
* Internal fuel capacity up to 6,400 lbs
* Altitude capability above 53,000 ft
* Large, three-place cabin (60” diameter outside, 59” inside)
* Sea level cabin qualified for unlimited altitude
* ECS scrubs CO2, removes humidity and defogs windows
* Two crew doors with dual seals and dual-pane windows
* Manual flight controls with three-axis electric trim
* Avionics include INS-GPS navigator, flight-director, flight test data (recording and T/M), air-data, vehicle health monitoring, backup flight instruments, and video system
* Propulsion is two afterburning J-85-GE-5 engines
* The 82 ft wing can be extended to 93 ft for increased climb capability
* Super-effective, pneumatic speed brakes allow steep descent with L/D < 4.5
* Hydraulic wheel brakes and nose-gear steering
* Pneumatic main gear retraction
* Dual-bus electrical power system
* Cockpit allows single-pilot operation (VMC-day conditions only)

SpaceShipOne was developed by Mojave Aerospace Ventures (a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company, in their Tier One program), without government funding. On June 21, 2004, it made the first privately funded human spaceflight. On October 4, it won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two-week period with the equivalent of three people on board and with no more than ten percent of the non-fuel weight of the spacecraft replaced between flights. Development costs were estimated to be $25 million, funded completely by Paul Allen.

During its test programme, SpaceShipOne set a number of important "firsts", including first privately funded aircraft to exceed Mach 2 and Mach 3, first privately funded manned spacecraft to exceed 100km altitude, and first privately funded reusable manned spacecraft.

SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with suborbital flight capability that uses a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "feathering" atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folded upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increased drag while remaining stable. The achievements of SpaceShipOne are more comparable to the X-15 than orbiting spacecraft like the Space Shuttle. Accelerating a spacecraft to orbital speed requires more than 60 times as much energy as accelerating it to Mach 3.

SpaceShipOne was developed by Mojave Aerospace Ventures (a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company, in their Tier One program), without government funding. On June 21, 2004, it made the first privately funded human spaceflight. On October 4, it won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two-week period with the equivalent of three people on board and with no more than ten percent of the non-fuel weight of the spacecraft replaced between flights. Development costs were estimated to be $25 million, funded completely by Paul Allen.

During its test programme, SpaceShipOne set a number of important "firsts", including first privately funded aircraft to exceed Mach 2 and Mach 3, first privately funded manned spacecraft to exceed 100km altitude, and first privately funded reusable manned spacecraft.

SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with suborbital flight capability that uses a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "feathering" atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folded upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increased drag while remaining stable. The achievements of SpaceShipOne are more comparable to the X-15 than orbiting spacecraft like the Space Shuttle. Accelerating a spacecraft to orbital speed requires more than 60 times as much energy as accelerating it to Mach 3.

Description
White Knight SpaceShip One
White Knight

The White Knight is a manned, twin-turbojet research aircraft intended for high-altitude missions. First flight was on August 1, 2002. Design mission - provides a high-altitude airborne launch of SpaceShipOne, a manned sub-orbital spacecraft. The White Knight is equipped to flight-qualify all the spacecraft systems, except rocket propulsion. The White Knight’s cockpit, avionics, ECS, pneumatics, trim servos, data system, and electrical system components are identical to those installed on SpaceShipOne. The White Knight’s high thrust-to-weight ratio and enormous speed brakes allow the astronauts in training to practice space flight maneuvers such as boost, approach, and landing with a very realistic environment. Thus, the aircraft serves as a high-fidelity moving-base simulator for SpaceShipOne pilot training.

Other White Knight mission capabilities include: reconnaissance, surveillance, atmospheric research, data relay, telecommunications, imaging & booster launch for micro-satellites.

FEATURES/CAPABILITIES:

* Carriage and launch of payloads up to 8,000 lbs
* Internal fuel capacity up to 6,400 lbs
* Altitude capability above 53,000 ft
* Large, three-place cabin (60” diameter outside, 59” inside)
* Sea level cabin qualified for unlimited altitude
* ECS scrubs CO2, removes humidity and defogs windows
* Two crew doors with dual seals and dual-pane windows
* Manual flight controls with three-axis electric trim
* Avionics include INS-GPS navigator, flight-director, flight test data (recording and T/M), air-data, vehicle health monitoring, backup flight instruments, and video system
* Propulsion is two afterburning J-85-GE-5 engines
* The 82 ft wing can be extended to 93 ft for increased climb capability
* Super-effective, pneumatic speed brakes allow steep descent with L/D < 4.5
* Hydraulic wheel brakes and nose-gear steering
* Pneumatic main gear retraction
* Dual-bus electrical power system
* Cockpit allows single-pilot operation (VMC-day conditions only)

SpaceShipOne was developed by Mojave Aerospace Ventures (a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company, in their Tier One program), without government funding. On June 21, 2004, it made the first privately funded human spaceflight. On October 4, it won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two-week period with the equivalent of three people on board and with no more than ten percent of the non-fuel weight of the spacecraft replaced between flights. Development costs were estimated to be $25 million, funded completely by Paul Allen.

During its test programme, SpaceShipOne set a number of important "firsts", including first privately funded aircraft to exceed Mach 2 and Mach 3, first privately funded manned spacecraft to exceed 100km altitude, and first privately funded reusable manned spacecraft.

SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with suborbital flight capability that uses a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "feathering" atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folded upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increased drag while remaining stable. The achievements of SpaceShipOne are more comparable to the X-15 than orbiting spacecraft like the Space Shuttle. Accelerating a spacecraft to orbital speed requires more than 60 times as much energy as accelerating it to Mach 3.

SpaceShipOne was developed by Mojave Aerospace Ventures (a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company, in their Tier One program), without government funding. On June 21, 2004, it made the first privately funded human spaceflight. On October 4, it won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two-week period with the equivalent of three people on board and with no more than ten percent of the non-fuel weight of the spacecraft replaced between flights. Development costs were estimated to be $25 million, funded completely by Paul Allen.

During its test programme, SpaceShipOne set a number of important "firsts", including first privately funded aircraft to exceed Mach 2 and Mach 3, first privately funded manned spacecraft to exceed 100km altitude, and first privately funded reusable manned spacecraft.

SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with suborbital flight capability that uses a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "feathering" atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folded upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increased drag while remaining stable. The achievements of SpaceShipOne are more comparable to the X-15 than orbiting spacecraft like the Space Shuttle. Accelerating a spacecraft to orbital speed requires more than 60 times as much energy as accelerating it to Mach 3.