More X-Prize excitement

SpaceShipOne flew today, and preliminary results say the flight cracked the 62-mile altitude required to qualify for the X-Prize. But like the ship's previous flight, that pesky "unexpected roll" disrupted the carefully choreographed launch:

SpaceShipOne appeared to go into an unexpected roll and shut down its main engine just after it started, following the high-altitude drop. Commentators in a live webcast were concerned.

"It appeared there were some wrinkles" near the apex of the flight, said webcast commentator Jim Scott. It was not yet clear what the problem was, however.

The first roll, months back, was dismissed as an easily-correctable glitch. This one hints at a pattern. I sincerely hope they can get it fixed in time for a safe turnaround flight on Oct. 4. To win the $10 million prize, they have to launch again within a two-week period.

Win or lose, however, Scaled Composites already made back a nice chunk of their development costs with the recent licensing of the technology by Virgin Galactic. The going ticket price of $200,000 per is still out of my price range, but if economics of scale ever get it down to the $200 range, buddy, I'm there!

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