Your online guide to deep space imagery, photos showing the wonders of our universe, and pictures of the earth as seen from space.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on March 4, 2009 under Spacecraft | 
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Starchaser’s contribution to the Ansari X-Prize competition was nicknamed “Thunderbird” and in 2006 displayed a prototype Thunderstar capsule at the X Prize Cup. This gallery contains a collection of images showing their ongoing work including the Skybolt sounding rocket.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on February 22, 2009 under Spacecraft | Be the First to Comment
Stabilo Suborbital Manned Program
The Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association were participants in the Ansari X-Prize Competition and remain active in the annual X Prize Cup. Their ORIZONT and STABILO are billed as Europe’s most advanced private manned space programs. This gallery includes images of these craft along with their X-Prize Demonstrators. The Demonstrator 2B rocket, equipped with world first composite materials reusable monopropellant engine ever to fly, was successfully launched on September 9, 2004 from the Cape Midia Air Force Launch Site on the Black Sea shore. STABILO, a two stages manned suborbital air launched vehicle completed three flights until now. The first stage is world largest Solar Montgolfier balloon and the second stage is a rocket powered manned spaceship. First low altitude flights of Stabilo were completed in 2006. In the same year, Mission1 was completed at an altitude of 14.700 m. In 2007 Stabilo’s Mission2 was launched at an altitude of 12.000 m above the Black Sea. The team received flight data via a communication satellite. The landing point was located at 30km (16.2miles) from the launch site.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on February 15, 2009 under Spacecraft | Be the First to Comment
Bristol Spaceplanes Limited was working to develop the Ascender using off-the-shelf technology to compete for the Ansari X-Prize. This image gallery contains photos of the flight test model. The full scale craft so far has never been developed.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on January 25, 2009 under Spacecraft | Be the First to Comment
PlanetSpace’s Canadian Arrow was among the top competitors for the Ansari X-Prize. Once the prize was won by the Scaled Composites team in 2004, PlanetSpace hoped to complete the craft and begin offering suborbital flights to space tourists. The company is also continuing to develop an eight-man lifting body spacecraft known as Silver Dart. It was expected that this craft would be used for crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station. The links above conain both press release images and artists renderings of the two spacecraft.
