SpaceShipOne, Donated to Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum

The first private space ship took its place Wednesday next to Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, praised by its designer as a symbol of a new era of space tourism alongside the icon of trans-Atlantic flight.


SpaceShipOne's designer, Burt Rutan, and its financier, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, were on hand as the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum took ownership of the 28-foot star-spangled spacecraft.

A year ago, Rutan and Allen captured the $10 million (euro8.37 million) Ansari X Prize when SpaceShipOne dashed to the edge of space twice in five days. The prize was aimed at encouraging space tourism through the development of low-cost private spacecraft.

Rutan told several hundred visitors in the building's giant lobby that he was pleased the Smithsonian so quickly recognized the importance of SpaceShipOne.

"I knew that the significance would be known and understood by everyone in 10 years,'' said Rutan, 62. "I'm extremely pleased to see it here this early.''

Like many space entrepreneurs, Rutan thinks the private sector can do what NASA cannot: inspire tomorrow's astronauts and scientists by offering them the real promise of a trip to space.

NASA is phasing out the space shuttle and instead plans to return to the moon, for $104 billion (euro87.05 billion) over 13 years. It is a plan Rutan dismisses.

"We'll go back to the moon by not learning anything new,'' Rutan said.

He envisions a day in the not-too-distant future when resort hotels orbit the earth and offer excursions around the moon.

Federal Aviation Administration chief Marian Blakey shares his optimism.

"I don't expect it will be too long before we can all book an aisle seat 62 miles (99.77 kilometers) up,'' Blakey said.

There are signs that SpaceShipOne's historic suborbital flights marked the dawn of a new space age.

Of the 26 teams that entered the Ansari X Prize competition, 10 are now viable companies, according to Ian Murphy, spokesman for the prize's successor, the X Prize Cup.

Rutan has a deal with British entrepreneur Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, to build a fleet of five spacecraft. The new company, Virgin Galactic, will take passengers on 2 1/2-hour trips into space for $200,000 (euro167,406) each.