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Flight 17P of SpaceShipOne is a spaceflight in the Tier One program anticipated to take place on October 4 2004, which if successful will win the Ansari X Prize by demonstrating a non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft.
Scheduling
The date of the flight is the 47th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. SpaceShipOne's first powered flight was, in similar vein, on the 100th anniversary of the first ever powered flight by the Wright Brothers.
Manifest
Whereas Scaled Composites stated that the first competitive flight would not carry passengers, it has not made any such statement about later competitive flights. Burt Rutan intends to be one of the first passengers on SpaceShipOne. It is reasonably likely that Rutan will be a passenger on flight 17P.
Flight profile
As of September 30 2004 the pilot for the flight has not been publicly announced. Procedure for the previous flight suggests that a pilot has already been selected but will not be announced until the day of the flight.
All times are in PDT, which is seven hours behind UTC. This is the local civil time at the spaceport on the day of the flight.
The flight will takeoff from Mojave Spaceport in the early morning, when wind conditions are most favourable. On the previous flight, takeoff was scheduled for 06:47. Takeoff can be expected before 07:00. Ascent to the launch altitude of around 14 km, coupled to White Knight, will take about an hour. At launch altitude, SpaceShipOne is expected to separate and then immediately ignite its rocket.
The rocket motor is capable of burning for approximately 90 s. It can be expected that this flight will perform a full-length burn, where previous flights have not in order to avoid pushing the envelope too far. It can be roughly guessed that the burn-out altitude will be in the region of 100 km, and the speed in the region of 1.2 km/s. After burn-out the craft will coast up to apogee somewhere around an altitude of 150 km. The target altitude for the X Prize is 100 km; only a very serious problem would prevent this being reached.
After apogee, SpaceShipOne will reenter the atmosphere in its feathered configuration, and then change to gliding configuration somewhere between 20 km and 10 km altitude. It will then glide back to the spaceport, to land around 25 minutes after launch.
Spectacle
A large crowd is expected to watch from Mojave Spaceport. Unfortunately, SpaceShipOne launches to the east of the spaceport, which in the early morning means that it is in the same part of the sky as the sun for viewers at the spaceport. This makes viewing more difficult, and caution is required when viewing through binoculars and telescopes. Nevertheless, direct viewing the flight is entirely possible, and spectators can clearly see the takeoffs and landings of SpaceShipOne and its chase planes. Sonic booms are also part of the spectators' experience.
There will also be television coverage, and various websites will provide coverage in their media of preference.
X Prize
The Ansari X Prize requires that two spaceflights be made by the same spacecraft within two weeks. SpaceShipOne successfully made its first competitive flight (flight 16P) on September 29 2004. A successful flight 17P would win the X Prize. If flight 17P is unsuccessful, there is a possibility of a third competitive flight (18P). This would have to occur by October 13 2004 in order to win the X Prize.
The da Vinci Project, another X Prize contender, planned to make its first competitive flight on October 2 2004, but encountered problems and had to delay their flights. The da Vinci Project will now only have a chance at the X Prize if Tier One's flights fail.
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