The Last Test Flight of SpaceShipOne

April 4, 2009 by J Paul Douglas
Filed under: Commercial Space Flight

“The next twenty five years is going to be a wild ride” — Burt Rutan

I wrote the following article back in 2004 after watching the final test flight of SpaceShipOne, which led up to the two Ansari X Prize flights. Originally published in the Space Operations Communicator journal, I’m re-posting it here for your enjoyment.

You’ll find the account of this flight to be completely free of the media misinformation and half truths that surrounded the event at the time.

sso22 In the predawn hours of Monday, June 21st, the media begins to assemble by the hundreds along the edge of the taxiway for runway 30. SpaceShipOne, slung underneath the belly of its turbojet carrier aircraft White Night, is being prepared for its historic flight to become the world’s first commercial spacecraft. Less than a week after the FAA formally granted the license to establish the Mojave Airport as a commercial spaceport, throngs of spectators estimated to number near 50,000 watch and wait as the sun slowly begins to peak above the mountains in the distance. There’s an almost palpable feeling of optimism and hope hanging in the desert air soon be broken by jet wash.

The weather on this launch day is “VFR to the moon” in pilots’ jargon. Visibility is unlimited; winds are light and out of the south. On the public address system, Copeland’s Rodeo plays, lending to the feeling that this is the wild west of space history that is unfolding. One could not help but reflect back on the earliest days of aviation – ca 1908 – when there were, as Burt Rutan put it the day before, “…only ten people who had flown. And something phenomenal happened in four years. In just those four years, and in 39 countries, there were now hundreds of new types of airplanes, and there were thousands of pilots. They did barnstorming. Then they had mail planes, warplanes and airliners. But can you imagine that in only four years something had sprung up from nothing, and all of that happened?”

Scann sso33 ing the faces of the many people who had turned out to witness today’s flight, it’s easy to see the, “…enormous pent up hunger to fly in space” as Burt put it. This may be only the beginning of a more sustained, private effort to include the common man in space travel and exploration. Even now there are companies like Mojave-based XCOR Aerospace who are poised to take up the challenge of developing a “revenue generating” flight program, says its CEO Jeff Greason.

13:47 Zulu and T minus 63 minutes. With a temporary airspace restriction in place, the White Knight-SpaceShipOne mated pair has taxied into position on runway 30. As it passed the media and VIP areas, cheers began to erupt in support. Those cameramen of the press not lucky enough to have secured one of the limited spaces on a riser or bleacher dodge one another in an attempt to get just one more photo before takeoff. Everyone here, including the Civil Air Patrol cadets assigned to crowd control and local law enforcement, is riveted to the scene. With only a short pause, White Knight throttles up and roars down the runway. Now airborne, it begins its hour-long climb to 47,000 feet.

Only minutes before, three chase sso5 planes took off and are circling the airport, each waiting its tu

rn as escort for its assigned altitude range. For low altitude chase, pilots Coleman and Bird are flying an Extra. High chase is covered by pilots Karkow and Scherer in a Beechcraft Starship and by pilots Van der Schueren and Johnson in a Dassault Dornier Alpha Jet. When WN-SS1 reaches the altitude of the chase planes, the formation takes up positions around it and the group began its ascent in a slow, upward spiral around the spaceport.

14:33 Zulu and T minus 17 minutes. By now Brian Binnie, pilot for White Knight, is reading off the pre-launch checklist for SpaceShipOne, and Mike is setting his trim. Also around this time, an announcement is made over the public address system that transmissions to and from the space vehicle are being impeded. Apparently someone on the ground is using a portable aviation transceiver, has found and tuned to the unpublished frequency for this mission, and has a stuck mic.

14:43 Zulu and T minus 7 minutes. The announcement has just come that Spac sso6 eport Mojave has given clearance to land. Before SpaceShipOne can be launched, it must be known that all is clear for an unobstructed landing to be made. And there comes the word… “Go for light!”

14:50 Zulu and T minus 0. Matt Stinemetze, flight engineer for White Knight, releases the space ship. As Mike drops off, he hits the arm switch and lights his hybrid rocket motor. Immediately he’s experiencing 3 Gs, “eyeballs on” and SpaceShipOne begins to execute a non-commanded snap roll 90 degrees left. In response, Mike stomps on the rudder and regains a wings level attitude. Next stop: space.

Late in the boost phase, Mike has lost the primary pitch trim. In this regime, it’s no longer possible to fly the spacecraft using the stick; trajectory is now controlled by use of the redundant pitch and roll trim mechanisms. With the primary pitch trim inoperable, the backup takes over, but Mike still has no use of it, so he’s flying with the trim settings he has. Now, however, he’s forced to deviate from the planned trajectory. The apogee is going to be lower than expected.

The motor has burned out now at 180,000 feet. Mike is coasting up to apogee. He’s spending the next three and a half minutes weightless, so he’s decided to have a little fun the experience. And why not? Having feathered the wing to maintain alignment of the spacecraft without pilot input and with nothing to do for the next few minutes, he’s taken out a bag of M&Ms and let go of a hand full in front of his face. Sure enough… they float. Now, with the curvature of the earth clearly visible outside the windows, and despite the control system anomaly – the most serious flight test anomaly so far – he’s done it. In what he later describes as an, “…almost religious experience”, he’s passed the threshold by 407 feet and has made it into space. Lacking enough velocity to achieve orbit, gravity take its toll, however, and after what must have seemed an all- too-short space flight, he’s beginning to fall back to earth. Now the pucker factor ramps up in a hurry. He knows he’s got to head back to the spaceport as fast as he can. Already, the control system anomaly on the way up means that he’s going to re-enter south of t sso71 he intended recovery point. With a little luck, it’ll still be well within his vehicles glide capability.

14:55 Zulu and T plus 5 minutes. Now in the descent phase, the spacecraft has accelerated to Mach 2.9, and Mike is exceeding 5 Gs. At this speed, he’s really, “hauling the mail!” As he descends deeper into the atmosphere and the air becomes thicker, the spacecraft is being buffeted harder. The kinds of sounds coming through the vehicle are a bit unsettling. Then, all of a sudden, a loud bang! But there seems to be no affect on the handling. Whatever it was, it doesn’t look as if it was a critical system. Still, can’t help but be a little worried.

Descending now through 57,000 feet, and Mike de-feathers the wing, converting SpaceShipOne into a glider. It’s going to be a long 20 minutes from this point to reach the spaceport and return to the same runway from which he took off.

15:01 Zulu and T plus 11 minutes. The announcement has come over the public address system that Mike is at 31,000 feet. He reports, “…a good visual on the airport.” sso101

15:06 Zulu and T plus 16 minutes. The word everyone has been waiting for arrives: confirmation that Mike has made it above 100 km. “We did it! Mission accomplished.”

Burt Rutan and Paul Allen have left mission control and are standing on the tarmac shading their eyes from the sun, looking down the approach end of the runway. A few more moments pass as they strain to catch the first glimpse of SpaceShipOne on final approach. And there it is… coming in fast with the Extra off its right wing. Over the numbers and Mike pulls back slightly on the stick to enter the landing flare. First the main gear touch down. Then, slowly, the nose begins to drop until its skid makes contact. Cheers and applause erupt yet again as this newest of space vehicles rolls to a stop.

Meanwhile, it’s taken White Knight slightly longer than its payload to return to the spaceport. As SpaceShipOne is being hooked up behind the tow vehicle, White Knight descends for sso12 a low, victory pass over the runway. Before reaching the end, it pulls up sharply and banks left. Without the extra mass hanging below its fuselage, it’s amazingly agile. In seconds, it’s out of sight. A minute or two later, it’s back; this time, with the other two chase planes. The trio flies in formation for a final pass over the spaceport. All around, faces are smiling, and a few heads are shaking in amazement as it begins to sink in. Wow. They actually did it.

Coming up the taxiway is a white, Ford pickup truck, and behind it is SpaceShipOne securely in tow. As he passes, Mike waves out of the open porthole, grinning from ear to ear. Tow vehicle and space ship come to a halt, and with the hatch now open, Mike jumps out to be greeted with hugs and handshakes, and you could swear he’s walking a foot off the ground. Burt later admits that he’s glad he resisted the suggestion to have a mic there to record the first words spoken. The emotion is so strong that the moment is best left private. But we can all imagine the kinds of words being exchanged. It’s taken these brave men of uncommon vision years of hard work and sso131 commitment, and of the proverbial “blood, sweat and tears” to reach this moment. From the beginning, it’s been a gamble. Burt told the press on the day before launch, “We stuck our necks out a mile by developing an in-house motor.” Unable to buy one suitable enough for their specifications, they were left with little choice. But the gambles all paid off. Now, in front of the world, Burt, Paul and Mike stand shoulder-to-shoulder and extend their thumbs up.

This was not a nominal test flight, however. Work lies ahead to determine why there was a control system anomaly. Before they can move on to the X-Prize flights, the cause of the anomaly must be found and fixed. Also, the question of whether Mike shut down the motor or it shutdown on its own remains unanswered. Still, there were some spectacular successes today. The apogee is on the record as being 328,491 feet. There’s no question about it. They achieved what they set out to achieve with this test flight. On hand are representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration and from the Guinness Book of Records. The FAA awards Mike the world’s first pair of commercial astronaut wings, and to the team, Guinness presents a certificate for the first ever, privately-funded, manned space fight.

The loud bang Mike heard turned out to be thermal buckling in the motor’s nozzle faring. In order to decrease drag by another three to four percent, it was installed the first time sso14 for this flight. The buckling (seen as a dent just below the nozzle) was never a risk to the spacecraft. Burt reports that, “The nozzle would not hurt the airplane if it fell off.” And indeed there were, “No issues at all with the motor.” The faring is a minor issue.

There’s little doubt in anyone’s mind that SpaceShipOne is going on to make the X-Prize flights. And if the Scaled-Vulcan team wins, what comes next? Understandably, Burt is very tight lipped about future plans: A sound strategy. But he did manage to drop us a little hint when he said at the pre-flight press conference that, “We’re going to orbit sooner than you think.” If Burt does have his sights set on an orbital vehicle, it’s sure that he will not stop until he realizes that goal.

For now, we can all take great satisfaction in the certainty that a new era has begun. If you doubt that, Administrator Stu Witt has a few words for you: “Mojave Spaceport is now open for business.”

………………………………………….

Update!

In a telephone interview with Wired magazine on July 6, Burt Rutan said that the control system anomaly has been resolved. The source of the problem was an actuator that delayed moving one of the flaps because it “had run against a stop,” limiting its movement. The glitch helped push the spacecraft off course. Burt went on to say that they have new information on the source of another anomaly. Mike Melvill’s initial feeling that it was not his input that caused the spacecraft to roll left after engine light was correct. The unexpected roll was caused by wind sheer.

In interview with US news network MSNBC, Mike revealed new information on the source of the loud bang he heard during the flight. He stated that it was caused when a chunk of solid fuel jammed the rocket nozzle for a split second before the pressure built up and expelled the chunk. “It was something weird we hadn’t seen happen with that rocket motor.” The most exciting news, however, came when he announced that they plan on trying for the X-Prize flights toward the end of September this year!

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