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Alone in a spartan black cockpit, test pilot Mike Melvill rocketed towards space. He had eighty seconds to exceed the speed of sound and begin the climb to a target no civilian pilot had ever reached. He might not make it back alive. If he did, he would make history as the world's first commercial astronaut.
The spectacle defied reason, the result of a competition dreamed up by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, whose vision for a new race to space required small teams to do what only the world's largest governments had done before...
From the age of eight, when he watched Apollo 11 land on the Moon, Diamandis's singular goal was to get to space. When he realized NASA was winding down manned space flight, he set out on one of the great entrepreneurial adventure stories of our time. If the government wouldn't send him to space, he would create a private space flight industry himself.
In the 1990s, this idea was the stuff of science fiction. Undaunted, Diamandis found inspiration in the golden age of aviation. He discovered that Charles Lindbergh made his transatlantic flight to win a $25,000 prize. The flight made Lindbergh the most famous man on earth and galvanized the airline industry. Why, Diamandis thought, couldn't the same be done for space flight?
The story of the bullet-shaped SpaceShipOne, and the other teams in the hunt for a $10 million prize, is an extraordinary tale of making the impossible possible. In the end, as Diamandis dreamed, the result wasn't just a victory for one team; it was the foundation for a new industry.
About the author
Sir Richard Branson ist Gründer und Vorstandsvorsitzender der Virgin Group. Im Jahr 2006 spendete Branson alle kommenden Gewinne aus Virgins Transportgeschäft an Initiativen für Erneuerbare Energien. Er lebt auf seiner Privatinsel Necker Island, die zur Gruppe der British Virgin Islands gehört.
Summary
If the government wouldn't send him to space, he would create a private space flight industry himself.
Foreword
How a historic race gave birth to private space flight.
Report
"Hugely readable ... the story of how the prize was won is astonishing" Mail on Sunday
