MOJAVE, Calif. — A stubby rocket streaked toward space and appeared to blast through the Earth’s atmosphere for a second time in two weeks yesterday in the final leg of a bid to capture a $10 million prize meant to encourage space tourism.
SpaceShipOne, the rocket plane funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, appeared to top its required altitude within minutes of firing its rockets, said Peter Diamandis, who founded the X Prize eight years ago.
The plane took off from a desert runway early yesterday, slung to the belly of a carrier plane with a test pilot at the wheel. It was released at about 46,000 feet and fired its rockets to continue to an altitude of just over 62 miles.
Radar confirmation of the rocket’s peak altitude was expected soon after landing, but a crowd of thousands of enthusiasts on the ground began celebrating as soon as SpaceShipOne appeared to exceed the minimum requirement.
“This is the true frontier of transportation,” said Marion C. Blakey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, who stood near the runway to watch the space flight.
“It feels a little bit like Kitty Hawk must have,” Blakey added.
If the altitude of 368,000 feet is confirmed, the backers will claim the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million award that goes to the first privately built, manned rocket ship to fly in space twice in a span of two weeks.
The choice of Brian Binnie as Monday’s pilot was kept secret until hours before the scheduled takeoff. Last week, SpaceShipOne rolled dozens of times with Michael Melvill at the wheel as it hurtled toward space at three times the speed of sound.
“Let me say I thank God that I live in a country where this is possible,” Binnie said after landing and receiving a hug of congratulations from his wife. “And I really mean that.
“There’s no place on Earth that you can take this flag and take it up to space.”
Melvill also flew the first flight by a private plane into space on June 21..
Last week, Richard Branson, the British airline mogul and adventurer, announced that beginning in 2007, he will begin offering paying customers flights into space aboard rockets like the SpaceShipOne. He plans to call the service Virgin Galactic.
