The stars are one step closer!

SpaceShipOne wins $10 million X Prize

A stubby rocket named SpaceShipOne streaked into space and the history books Monday, flying higher than 62 miles for the second time in a week and capturing the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

The privately owned manned rocket left the Mojave Airport at dawn aboard a mother plane named White Knight that carried it to an altitude of 46,000 feet. From there it was launched on a half-hour flight that took it to an altitude of more than 62 miles for the second time in a week.

About an hour after it landed, X Prize founder Peter Diamandis announced that the altitude was official and that SpaceShipOne's team had claimed the prize by making two such flights within the required 14 days.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I caught a program about this on Discovery last night. The absolute love that Burt Rutan and his crew have for flight and this project is what made it happen. The vehicles themselves are simply elegant. The White Knight carrier plane, and the space plane look like something off a 1940s Astounding cover.

In other news, Virgin has licensed the technology, and plans to offer suborbital flights by the end of the decade.

I'm going. Not "I want to go" or "Gee, it would be nice to go", but I am going into space. This is my new long-term survival goal. Once, before I die, I'm going to get into space and see black sky.

But first, a song..

Here's to Conestoga, Pegasus and Liberty
and all the rest who've joined us in the race
Oh we're proud of NASA's heroes, but we'd rather raise our glass
To the hard-nosed bloody bastards who will get us into space

National League Race bet - Final Standings.

aurictech St. Louis Cardinals 105-57 .648
gridlore San Francisco Giants 91-71 .562
bunyip Chicago Cubs 89-73 .549

John let us know where to send the money. And beat the Hell out of the Dodgers.

and the At Least We Aren't Their Fans Award for 2004 goes to:

The Arizona Diamondbacks! 51-111 .315 They finished the season 42 games out of first place.

Every girl crazy about her sharp-dressed man...

After dealing with the Giants elimination yesterday, Kiri and I went out for a little retail therapy. One of the places we hit was Marshalls to look for wedding wear. We weren't finding anything, until she happened to see a bin of shirt and tie combinations. What we found was a Valerio Garati combo, black shirt with black/red tie. It looks great. Kirsten says we should get me some gray slacks to go with it. Since she has taste, I'll go with her recommendation.

Meme

1. Tell me something obvious about yourself
2. Tell me something about yourself that I don't know.
3. What is your biggest fear?
4. Do you normally take the safe route or the shortcut?
5. What is the one thing you want the most that you can't buy with money?
6. What is your most treasured possession?
7. What is the one thing you hate most about yourself that you do the most often?
8. Tell me something about you sexually that I don't know.
9. Tell me something about you sexually that everybody knows.
10. What is your favorite lie to tell?
11. Name something you have done once that you can't wait to do again.
12. Are you the jealous type?
13. What is the 1 person, place or thing that you can never say no to?
14. What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?
15. If you could do something crazy right now, what would it be?
16. When was the last time you cried?
17. When was the last time you felt so good that nothing else mattered?
18. Do you feel comfortable in public with no shirt on?
19. Name something embarressing you did while drunk.
20. If you post this in your journal, do you want me to answer it?

More memeage

Wait, I do sleep with a teddy bear! (several of them.)

Yet another meme!

Which Eddie Izzard "Dressed to Kill" line are you? by Saphyne
Username
Eddie Izzard quote:	"You killed 100,000 people? Ahhh. You must get up very early in the morning. I can’t even get down the gym! Your diary must look odd. Get up in the morning, death, death, death, death, death, death, death, lunch…death, death, death afternoon tea…death, death, death, quick shower."
Quiz created with MemeGen!