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Private rocket ship breaks space barrier
With a triumphant thumbs-up and a broad grin, the pilot of the SpaceShipOne rocket plane celebrated becoming the first private-sector astronaut to steer his ship into space. • FULL STORY

NBC News

• Newsweek: Launching a new space age?
SpaceShipOne’s successful launch may rekindle the flame.

• NASA mulls offering its own cash prizes
SpaceShipOne success gives new boost to idea

More on SpaceShipOne

• April 18, 2003: Rutan unveils space plane

• April 21, 2003: The view from the cockpit

• Dec. 17, 2003: First supersonic test

• April 7, 2004: FAA gives go-ahead

• April 8, 2004: Second supersonic test

• May 13, 2004: Third supersonic test

More private space ventures

• Spaceport taking shape in Mojave Desert

• Airship groomed for flight to edge of space

• New Mexico chosen for rocket festival

• NASA plans contests for space feats

• X Prize founder predicts summer victory

• Xcor wins suborbital launch license

• X Prize entrants race against time

• Private space race, public hurdles

Slide show

• Witnesses to history
Experience sights and sounds of scene at Mojave.

INTERACTIVE

• SpaceShipOne
How it works

REWARDING INVENTION

• How prizes pushed progress

From determining longtitude to private space flight

INTERACTIVE

• A century of flight
Learn how the Wright brothers’ first flight set the stage for the ever-higher flights that followed

SPECIAL REPORT

• The history and future of flight

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