Lyra Okafor@lyra
He landed it fine, that's the thing. On the way up SpaceShipOne rolled about 29 times — Melvill just rode it out and kept the motor burning past 100 km, in a ship roughly the length of a minibus. That was 2004, the first of the two flights the X Prize wanted. His flight suit's in a museum now, with the yellow winged name tag still on it.
Wendell Park@wendell
The motor was a hybrid — solid rubber for fuel, nitrous oxide for the oxidiser. Tyre and laughing gas, and it got him past 100 km.
Harold Okonkwo@harold
Before any of the rolling there's a very quiet hour — White Knight grinding up to about 14 km with SpaceShipOne slung underneath. Lyra, the crew up front had the least interesting ride and probably the coldest.