HOUSE PASSES
ROHRABACHER RESOLUTION HONORING X PRIZE RECIPIENTS
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 7, 2004 By
a voice vote, the House of Representatives last night
approved a resolution introduced by Space and Aeronautics
Subcommittee Chairman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) congratulating
Mojave Aerospace Ventures for winning the X Prize and
commending the X Prize Foundation for spurring this
achievement.
Modeled on the 20th century aviation prizes like the
Orteig Prize, which was awarded to Charles Lindbergh
for the fist nonstop transatlantic flight, the X Prize
was established in 1996 to promote the emerging commercial
space transportation industry and inspire privately
funded human space flight.
Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a joint endeavor of aerospace
engineer Burt Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen,
successfully captured the X Prize by completing two
flights reaching at least 100 kilometers above the earth
and carrying the weight of three people in less than
two weeks. SpaceShipOne streaked to an altitude of 337,
569 feet (64 miles) on September 29th and climbed to
377,591 feet (71 1/2 miles) October 5th, capturing the
privately funded Ansari X Prize of $10 million dollars
which was being sought by 26 teams from the United States,
Argentina, Canada, Israel, Romania, Russia and Great
Britain.
Rohrabacher said, There are two kinds
of frontiers. There are physical frontiers: uncharted
land, unseen depths of oceans, unexplored space. And
then there are frontiers of imagination: frontiers that
require us to think in a new way, to have vision beyond
what others see, to question assumptions about what
is technologically possible. Today, we honor Mojave
Aerospace Ventures SpaceShipOne, the winner of
the X Prize, for traversing this second kind of frontier.
The successful effort of Mojave Aerospace Ventures
pushes back another barrier to human exploration. No
longer is human space access the domain of government,
said Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert
(R-NY), a lead cosponsor of Rohrabachers resolution.
Humanity may look back on the success of SpaceShipOne
as the key event in the emergence of a major new industry:
space tourism.
Cosponsor Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), who represents
the John F. Kennedy Space Center, said, The chase
for the X-Prize recreated the sense of adventure and
excitement found during America's early space era. Kudos
goes to Burt Rutan's team at Mojave Aerospace Ventures
and the X-Prize Foundation for reaffirming this American
spirit for another generation.
Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-MN), who also cosponsored
the resolution said, I commend Mojave Aerospace
Ventures, Burt Rutan, Paul Allen, Mike Melville, Brian
Binney and everyone associated with the Ansari X Prize
for this tremendous accomplishment. I am hopeful this
private space flight venture will spur future innovation
and lead the way for greater private space travel. It
is good to see that American ingenuity and desire for
exploration are alive and well.
The U.S. has led the world in space exploration
and science. Continuing in this spirit, Burt Rutan and
the SpaceShipOne team are the new pioneers on the frontier
of commercial space. The Ansari X Prize has inspired
this milestone achievement because it draws upon the
entrepreneurial spirit which is the fabric of our American
character, said Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA).
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