Mike Melville
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Mike Melville
Michael Winston Melvill (born November 30, 1940, in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a world-record-breaking pilot and one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne on its first flight past the edge of space, flight 15P on June 21, 2004, thus becoming the first commercial astronaut, and the 435th person to go into space. He was also the pilot on SpaceShipOne's flight 16P, the first competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition. Life and career In 1978, Melvill met aerospace designer and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan when he flew to California to show Rutan the VariViggen he had built at his home. Rutan then hired him on the spot. In 1982, he was named Rutan's lead test pilot. In 1997, Melvill and Dick Rutan, Burt's brother, flew two Long-Eze aircraft that they built side-by-side around the world. This "around the world in 80 nights" flight was called The Spirit of EAA Frien ...
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Commercial Astronaut
A commercial astronaut is a person who has commanded, piloted, or served as an active crew member of a privately-funded spacecraft. This is distinct from an otherwise non-government astronaut, for example Charlie Walker, who flies while representing a non-government corporation but with funding or training or both coming from government sources. Criteria The definition of "astronaut" and the criteria for determining who has achieved human spaceflight vary. The defines spaceflight as any flight over of altitude. In the United States, professional, military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of are eligible to be awarded astronaut wings. Until 2003, professional space travelers were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, whether by the military or by civilian space agencies. However, with the first sub-orbital flight by the privately funded Scaled Composites Tier One program in 2004, the commercial astronaut category was created. The next comme ...
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Mike Melvill Upon The Completion Of Mission 15P The First Private Trip Innto Space Photo D Ramey Logan
Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documentaries Arts * Mike (miniseries), a 2022 Hulu limited series based on the life of American boxer Mike Tyson * Mike (2022 film), a Malayalam film produced by John Abraham * ''Mike'' (album), an album by Mike Mohede * ''Mike'' (1926 film), an American film * Mike (musician), American rapper, songwriter and record producer * ''Mike'' (novel), a 1909 novel by P. G. Wodehouse * "Mike" (song), by Elvana Gjata and Ledri Vula featuring John Shahu * Mike (''Twin Peaks''), a character from ''Twin Peaks'' * "Mike", a song by Xiu Xiu from their 2004 album ''Fabulous Muscles'' * mike. (musician), American rapper and baseball player formerly known as Mike Stud Businesses * Mike (cellular network), a defunct Canadian cellular network * Mike and Ike, ...
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NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations report to the president of NBC News, Rebecca Blumenstein. The NBCUniversal News Group also comprises MSNBC, the network's 24-hour liberal cable news channel, as well as business and consumer news channels CNBC and CNBC World, the Spanish language and United Kingdom-based Sky News. NBC News aired the first regularly scheduled news program in American broadcast television history on February 21, 1940. The group's broadcasts are produced and aired from 30 Rockefeller Plaza, NBCUl's headquarters in New York City. The division presides over the flagship evening newscast ''NBC Nightly News'', the world's first of its genre morning television program, ''Today (American TV program), Today'', and the longest-running television series in American hi ...
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Human Spaceflight
Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be telerobotic, remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or Autonomous robot, autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts (American or other), ''cosmonauts'' (Russian), or ''taikonauts'' (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or ''spacefarers''. The first human in space was Soviet Union, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who launched as part of the Soviet Union's Vostok program on Cosmonautics Day, 12 April 1961 at the beginning of the Space Race. On 5 May 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space, as part of Project Mercury. Humans traveled to the Moon nine times between 1968 and 1972 as part of the United States' Apollo progr ...
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Scaled Composites Proteus
The Scaled Composites Model 281 Proteus is a tandem-wing high-altitude long-endurance aircraft designed by Burt Rutan to investigate the use of aircraft as high-altitude telecommunications relays. The Proteus is a multi-mission vehicle able to carry various payloads on a ventral pylon. The Proteus has an extremely efficient design and can orbit a point at over 19,800 m for more than 18 hours. It is currently owned by Northrop Grumman. Design and development Proteus has an all-composite airframe with graphite-epoxy sandwich construction. Its wingspan of is expandable to with removable wingtips installed. Proteus is an "optionally piloted" aircraft ordinarily flown by two pilots in a pressurized cabin. However, it also has the capability to perform its missions semi-autonomously or flown remotely from the ground. Under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) project, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center assisted Scaled Composites in develop ...
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Iven C
Iven is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu .... Notable residents * Georg Detlev von Flemming (1699–1771), Saxon-Polish general References Vorpommern-Greifswald {{VorpommernGreifswald-geo-stub ...
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Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The World Air Sports Federation (; FAI) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains world records for aeronautical activities, including ballooning, aeromodeling, and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), as well as flights into space. History The FAI was founded at a conference held in Paris 12–14 October 1905, which was organized following a resolution passed by the Olympic Congress held in Brussels on 10 June 1905 calling for the creation of an Association "to regulate the sport of flying, ... the various aviation meetings and advance the science and sport of Aeronautics." The conference was attended by representatives from 8 countries: Belgium (, founded 1901), France ( Aéro-Club de France, 1898), Germany ( aka "German Airship League", founded 1902), Great Britain (Royal Aero Club, 1901), Italy (, 1904), Spain (, 19 ...
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Scott Crossfield, Passes The Torch Of Space Travel To Mike Melvill By D Ramey Logan
Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saskatchewan United States * Scott, Arkansas * Scott, Georgia * Scott, Indiana * Scott, Louisiana * Scott, Missouri * Scott, New York * Scott, Ohio * Scott, Wisconsin (other) (several places) * Fort Scott, Kansas * Great Scott Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota * Scott Air Force Base, Illinois * Scott City, Kansas * Scott City, Missouri * Scott County (other) (various states) * Scott Mountain (other) (several places) * Scott River, in California * Scott Township (other) (several places) Elsewhere * 876 Scott, minor planet orbiting the Sun * Scott (crater), a lunar impact crater near the south pole of the Moon *Scott Conservation Park, a protected area in South Australia Lists * Scott Point (di ...
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Private Space Race
Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded by Ringo Sheena * "Private" (Vera Blue song), from the 2017 album ''Perennial'' Literature * ''Private'' (novel), 2010 novel by James Patterson * ''Private'' (novel series), young-adult book series launched in 2006 Film and television * ''Private'' (film), 2004 Italian film * ''Private'' (web series), 2009 web series based on the novel series * ''Privates'' (TV series), 2013 BBC One TV series * Private, a penguin character in ''Madagascar'' Other uses * Private (rank), a military rank * ''Privates'' (video game), 2010 video game * Private (rocket), American multistage rocket * Private Media Group, Swedish adult entertainment production and distribution company * ''Private (magazine)'', flagship magazine of the Private Media Group ...
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SpaceshipOne
SpaceShipOne is an experimental air launch, air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to / using a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "Feathering (reentry), feathering" atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folds 70 degrees upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increases drag (physics), drag while retaining stability. SpaceShipOne completed the first human spaceflight, crewed private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its Mother ship (aviation), mother ship was named "Scaled Composites White Knight, White Knight". Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company. Allen provided the funding of approximately US$25 million. Rutan has indicated that ...
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Experimental Aircraft Association
The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 300,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapters worldwide. It hosts the largest aviation gathering of its kind in the world, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. History The EAA was founded in 1953 by veteran aviator Paul Poberezny along with other aviation enthusiasts. The organization began as more or less a flying club. Poberezny explains the nature of the organization's name, "Because the planes we flew were modified or built from scratch, they were required to display an EXPERIMENTAL placard where it could be seen on the door or cockpit, so it was quite natural that we call ourselves the "Experimental Aircraft Association". The EAA was incorporated in Wisconsin on 22 March 1955. Homebuilt aircraft, Homebuilding is still a large part of EAA, but the organization has grown over the years to include almost ...
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Rutan Long-EZ
The Rutan Model 61 Long-EZ is a tandem 2-seater homebuilt aircraft designed by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites. The Long-EZ has a canard layout, a swept wing with wingtip rudders, and a pusher engine and propeller. The tricycle landing gear has fixed main wheels with streamlined spats and a retractable nosewheel. Its predecessor was the VariEze, plans for which were first available to homebuilders in 1976. The prototype Long-EZ, N79RA, first flew on June 12, 1979. Design The Long-EZ was a scaled-up redesign of the VariEze predecessor, allowing for the use of readily available Lycoming aircraft engines instead of the Volkswagen-derived engines or hard-to-find small Continentals for which the VariEze was designed. Changes from the VariEze included a larger main wing with modified Eppler 1230 airfoil and less sweep, larger strakes containing more fuel and baggage storage, and a slightly wider cabin. The canard uses the same GU25-5(11)8 airfoil as the VariEze. Plans were offer ...
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