By: History.com Editors

2004

First privately owned spacecraft, SS1, travels beyond the earth’s atmosphere

History.com Editors

Published: June 17, 2024

Last Updated: January 30, 2025

On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately owned spacecraft to reach an altitude of 100 kilometers, or about 62 miles, above the earth, the generally accepted point at which “space” begins.

Pilot Mike Melvill, the sole crew member, took SpaceShipOne, or SS1 for short, to an altitude of 100.124 kilometers, just past the invisible boundary line, before beginning the long glide back to earth. When he landed at what is now the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, he had become the first commercial astronaut in history. The flight lasted 24 minutes.

Space: JFK's New Frontier

President Kennedy establishes his New Frontier with a challenge to venture into outer space. John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the earth, one step in America's endeavor to land on the moon.

SpaceShipOne went on to claim the $10 million Ansari X Prize, awarded to the first private company to send a reusable spacecraft capable of carrying three people past the edge of space twice within a two-week period. The winning flights took place on September 29 and October 4, 2004.

The SS1 was built by Mojave-based Scaled Composites, a company founded by the noted aircraft designer Burt Rutan. Rutan had already gained fame as the designer of the Rutan Voyager, which in 1986 became the first airplane to fly around the world without landing or refueling—a feat that took nine days.

Like the Voyager before it, the SS1 was constructed of lightweight composite materials. Rather than launch from the ground, it was carried aloft by a larger jet and then released at about 47,000 feet to fly under its own rocket power, much like the X-15 hypersonic jets that played a key role in the early days of the U.S. space program.

The SS1 retired after winning the X Prize and now resides at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., also home to the Voyager.

The Space Race

June 1965) Astronaut Edward H. White II, pilot for the Gemini-Titan 4 (GT-4) spaceflight, floats in the zero-gravity of space during the third revolution of the GT-4 spacecraft.June 1965) Astronaut Edward H. White II, pilot for the Gemini-Titan 4 (GT-4) spaceflight, floats in the zero-gravity of space during the third revolution of the GT-4 spacecraft. (Photo by: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

By: History.com Editors

Timeline

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1779

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1788

U.S. Constitution ratified

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1810

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1813

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1876

General Santa Anna dies in Mexico City

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1916

U.S. General John J. Pershing’s force attacked by Mexican troops

The controversial U.S. military expedition against Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa brings the United States and Mexico closer to war when Mexican government troops attack U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing’s force at Carrizal, Mexico. The Americans suffered 22 casualties, and more than 30 Mexicans were killed. Against the protests of Venustiano Carranza’s government, Pershing’s force […]

1920

Hollywood stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks mobbed by crowds

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1942

Allies surrender at Tobruk, Libya

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1956

Arthur Miller refuses to name communists

Playwright Arthur Miller defies the House Committee on Un-American Activities and refuses to name suspected communists. Miller’s defiance of McCarthyism won him a conviction for contempt of court, which was later reversed by the Supreme Court. His passport had already been denied when he tried to go to Brussels to attend the premiere of his […]

1964

The KKK kills three civil rights activists

Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are killed by a Ku Klux Klan mob near Meridian, Mississippi. The three young civil rights workers were working to register Black voters in Mississippi, thus inspiring the ire of the local Klan. The deaths of Schwerner and Goodman, white Northerners and members of the Congress of Racial Equality […]

1965

“Mr. Tambourine Man” is released, and the folk-rock revolution is on

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1975

A teenage girl’s boyfriend murders her parents

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1982

John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan, found not guilty

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Citation Information

Article title
First privately owned spacecraft, SS1, travels beyond the earth’s atmosphere
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 25, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 30, 2025
Original Published Date
June 17, 2024

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