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Michael Zey
o win the $10 million Ansari X Prize, offered to whomever makes two flights 62 miles high, an altitude generally accepted as being in space, in two weeks or less. SpaceShipOne made the first successful flight in the attempt to win the Ansari X Prize on September Photo by Reuters (Handout)

Thu Sep 30,11:13 PM ET

By JOHN ANTCZAK, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - The creators of a private rocket plane will go ahead with plans for another launch next week in a quest to claim a multimillion-dollar prize, despite a harrowing flight in which the spacecraft rolled dramatically while hurtling toward the edge of the atmosphere.


AP Photo


Reuters  
Slideshow: X Prize Space Launch Competition

Organizers of the $10 million Ansari X Prize announced without elaboration Thursday night that SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan had told them he would go ahead with Monday morning's scheduled flight.


The prize, intended to spur development of space tourism, is a competition for privately developed spacecraft capable of carrying three people — or a pilot and equivalent weight — 62 miles high. The competition requires two successful flights by the same craft within a 14-day span.


The question of whether to proceed with the second flight arose after SpaceShipOne unexpectedly began corkscrewing as it soared toward space during its first competition flight Wednesday.


The flight director recommended that pilot Michael Melvill shut down the rocket, but Melvill chose to let the motor burn a few seconds longer to ensure he had reached the target altitude.


Melvill, 63, kept the craft on course and brought the roll to a halt in space.


After landing, he said the roll was controllable and that he had never been worried. He characterized the spaceship as working normally, and said he probably inadvertently caused the roll.


Melvill also was the pilot when SpaceShipOne made its historic first flight into space in June, but it also flew more than 20 miles outside its planned flight area. Data showed the pilot overcompensated for the effects of a wind shear.


On Wednesday, a specially designed jet carried SpaceShipOne under its belly to 000 feet, where the supersonic craft was released. Melville fired the rocket motor and pointed the nose toward space. The craft reached an altitude of about 64 miles.


The June flight marked the first time a privately developed manned rocket had reached space. Rutan and financial backer Paul Allen then entered the craft in the X Prize competition.


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PHOTO The SpaceShipOne commercial spacecraft glides down during a test flight on approach to the Mojave, California, airport in this June 2004 file photograph. SpaceShipOne is scheduled to take again off from Mojave, California on October 4 in an attempt to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize, offered to whomever makes two flights 62 miles high, an altitude generally accepted as being in space, in two weeks or less. SpaceShipOne made the first successful flight in the attempt to win the Ansari X Prize on September Photo by Reuters (Handout)