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5 The public was shown the finished project in April of 2003. My
dad came out all the way from Kansas just to see it. I was so glad to
have him there so I could show off what I had done. But there was still
a lot of work to do. The spacecraft was made, but we had yet to run

test flights. I felt honored to be a part of the test flight crew.

6 After many flights of varying difficulty, we were ready to make the
first spaceflight. The date was June 21, 2004, and it would prove to be
a historic day.

7 The sky was still black as we rolled the joined aircraft out of the
hangar. I had hardly slept the night before. Every nerve in my body
was filled with anticipation. This day would either prove that we had
succeeded in making a spacecraft, or it would show that we still had a

long way to go. I could feel the tension in the air. Everyone was aware
of the dangers of this flight. Until now, no one but trained government
astronauts had been to space. And even some of the government
missions had ended in disaster. The possibility that someone could die

was very real, but no one dared talk about it.

8 Even with all the danger, I was confident we would succeed.
Burt Rutan, the president of Scaled Composites, had designed the
aircraft and knew what he was doing. Every member of the team who

helped build the planes and design the technology was exceptionally
intelligent. We all knew what was at stake and had left nothing to
chance.

At a news conference, aviation designer Burt Rutan describes
how SpaceShipOne performed during its test flights.

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