New Prize offered for first civilian orbital

[scaleman 0]

First we have the X Prize, now the O (Orbital) Prize? A clip from the space.com/yahoo story on the recent launch by spaceshipone:

 

Robert Bigelow, billionaire hotel magnate and space tourism promoter, said this about SpaceShipOne this morning: "I'm impressed with the sheer speed of the vehicle." It goes over Mach 3 (Mach 1 is the speed of sound) and is privately built. "That's an accomplishment in itself besides all the other things it'll do today."

 

Bigelow this week announced a new prize of $50 million for the first private group that can build an orbiting, passenger-carrying spacecraft.

[WEAREBORG4102 0]

Wow.... That's a lot of prizes... and a lot of money...

[ddillard 2]

It just goes to show that money is a great motivator for technological advancement.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Maybe some of us will see space flight in our own lifetime thanks to the private sector. But you know it kind of puts a whole new spin on the Star Trek vision of the future - if private enterprise makes it before an organized government.

[mj 7]

I say it's great to see someone willing to inspire others to take the risks to advance space travel!

[Odie 0]

I am very glad to see people are will to take the risk and go to space even if its for the money.

[cptwright 1]

thats awsome. so does anyone here know of a link where i can see, or read about the xprize winner. i think the private sector space race is great, our governments have stalled in orbit for a very long tim. its about time somebody else did something about it.

[Wishfire 2]

I have an idea... Let's get together and build this thing! We can split the money. :unsure: