#space #aerospace #astronomy on this acct software engineer, pilot/CFI, Ham, rocket/balloon tracker, #spacegeek co-founder of Stratofox Also me: @ikluft @KO6YQ
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ALT White Knight carrier twin-jet with SpaceShipOne slung beneath it, taxiing for takeoff at Mojave Air & Space Port KMHV (officially renamed Mojave Spaceport at the time, before Air was added back) on October 4, 2004 This flight was an attempt at the second of two space flights in less than 2 weeks to win the $10M X-Prize. Later that morning they successfully won the X-Prize and set a new winged-flight altitude record beating the X-15. photo by Ian Kluft
ALT White Knight carrier plane with SpaceShipOne followed by Beechcraft Starship chase plane as they climb to altitude above Mojave to air-launch SpaceShipOne for its X-Prize space flight attempt on October 4, 2004 photo by Ian Kluft
ALT SpaceShipOne was air-launched from White Knight at 43,000ft/13000m altitude. The contrails show SpaceShipOne's orange flame under the boost phase of its flight as the White Knight carrier plane banks away from the rocket ignition. The other contrail on the right is the Alpha Jet chase plane recording in-flight video. October 4, 2004, Mojave, California photo by Ian Kluft
ALT SpaceShipOne returns gliding to Mojave Spaceport KMHV after a successful space flight to 112km/367,500ft which won the $10M X-Prize and beat the X-15 winged-flight altitude record October 4, 2004, Mojave, California photo by Ian Kluft
ALT image from Wikipedia/Timeshifter: No-excuse postal voting map of the US https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No-excuse_postal_voting_map_of_the_US.svg
ALT A two-panel image split down the middle vertically. At the left is the Vega disk as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. The disk is perfectly circular, and at the center is a larger black spot blocking the bright glow of a star. Closer to the center, the disk is white. Radial striations extend out from the center, giving a ripple effect to the disk like the end of a sausage casing. The outer edge of the circular disk is blue. At the right, the Webb image of the Vega disk is an orange colored, smooth, fuzzy halo. At the center is also a black spot blocking the bright glow of the star, but is significantly smaller. The inner disk is whiter toward the center, and there is darker circular lane between the inner disk and the more orange outer disk. The disk is also perfectly circular.
