The Flight of Space Ship One
Video highlights of the 2nd flight of Scaled Composite’s Space Ship One (SS1), from October 2004. Unfortunately, there’s no audio. So here’s the story:
0:00-0:20 SS1 is taken to about 50000 feet under the belly of a specially built aircraft.
0:20-0:24 SS1 Separates from the lifting craft
0:25-0:45 SS1’s rocket motor ignites and it climbs quickly, eventually reaching an altitude of about 62 miles
0:45-0:59 Once the motor stops, weightlessness begins. SS1 is shown reconfiguring for its eventual re-entry into the atmosphere.
1:00-1:10 The pilot is shown taking pictures out the window. Note the camera lens cap bouncing around in the weightless environment
1:11-1:20 Awesome view of Earth from suborbital space.
1:21-1:34 Pilot is shown playing with a paper airplane, demonstrating weightlessness
1:35-1:56 Having successfully re-entered the atmosphere, SS1 is reconfigured to glide to a landing.
1:57-2:30 Glide, approach, and landing.