Despite an overwhelming lack of anything beyond the most superficial knowledge of the subject, there is a very strong rocket connection to this site. One part of that connection is Rocket Jones. It was Ted's recommendation and invitation that resulted in my move from Blogspot to mu.nu. for which I will be forever grateful.

The other connection is to Rocket Man Blog. It's author, Mark Oakly, has the title of Blogfather for Hold The Mayo. I found his blog from a link from Virginia Postrel. After reading the entire main page of the site I sent him an email with a few comments and asked if he ever considered the possibility of having guest authors. We passed a few messages back and forth and before we finished discussing the topic, I had clicked on the Blogger ad at the top of his page and had my own blog. ark provided a lot of help in getting me started.

This is why I read stories lilke this with very mixed feelings.

A privately built manned spacecraft has reached a record altitude of 211,000ft (64km) over California on one of its final tests before officially entering space.

SpaceShipOne was built by aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan who hopes to win the Ansari X-prize of $10m (£5.7m) for the first private flight into space.

The craft has to reach an altitude of 329,000ft (100km) twice in three weeks to win - and is expected to do so next month

About two months ago, Mark left his job at Lockheed Martin for a position as lead propulsion engineer with TGV Rockets. He put his house in Colorado one the market and moved his family to Oklahoma. His blog, quite understandably has been quiet ever since.

So while I certainly wish nothing bad for Burt Rutan and his Spaceship One team, I cannot help but root for the Michele B.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 07:32 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment

1 The best thing about this is that many of these companies are going for the long-term. Whoever makes it first is cool, but whoever does it best will win the real prize, which is commercial success.

I'm not knocking Rutan, but SpaceShipOne is designed to win the prize, whereas more conventional designs are more practical for future use (in my humble opinion).

Then again, Rutan has a history of success, so who am I to argue?

Posted by: Ted at May 17, 2004 03:32 AM (blNMI)

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