MOSCOW, May 14 (RIA Novosti) - US rocket glider SpaceShipOne rose to 64 kilometres in a sensational Californian test yesterday. Novosti addressed Sergei Puzanov, prominent Russian aerospace expert, to comment.
The interviewee was rather sceptical about the breakthrough. Stratospheric rocket gliders are good to test pioneer ideas and technologies, but even exorbitantly rich passengers will hardly fall in for regular commercial flights. Freight flights will be even more unaffordable, what with huge costs and long preparations, to say nothing of dubious safety, he said.
Designed and manufactured by the Scaled Composites, US-based private company, the SpaceShipOne had one of its scheduled tests yesterday, Michael Melville piloting. A White Knight booster took the craft to a 14 kilometre height, after which it disengaged for independent flight to rise to 64,477 metres and glide down for a soft landing within twenty minutes.
