Beyond Rocket Man
Aviation has seen countless pioneers since then. Some of its most recent trailblazers set a new altitude record. In fact, test pilot Mike Melville went all the way into space, reaching an altitude of nearly 330,000 feet. His historic flight of June 21, 2004, in SpaceShipOne was the first into space aboard a privately built, privately funded manned aircraft. After a 76-second rocket burn, the spacecraft reached a speed of Mach 2.9 and an altitude of 328,491 feet.
Airplane--and spaceship--designer Burt Rutan signs autographs in front of SpaceShipOne during EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last August |
On October 5, SpaceShipOne was signed over to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and placed on display in the museum's Milestones of Flight gallery. It hangs from the ceiling between the Spirit of St. Louis and the Bell X-1. It joins another record-setting Rutan design in the museum; on December 23, 1986, his Voyager completed the first nonstop, unrefueled around-the-world flight--a journey that took pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager nine days to complete. Rutan has designed a number of other aircraft, ranging from the homebuilt VariEze to the futuristic Beech Starship, a twin-turboprop business aircraft with canards up front and its engines arranged in a pusher configuration.
I drove to the National Air and Space Museum for the dedication ceremony. The walls can barely contain the history displayed in that facility (and the new, much larger Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport). In the Milestones of Flight gallery alone were Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell X-1 in which Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, and Friendship 7, the Mercury capsule in which John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth--to name only a few.
But each of us who flies is a pioneer, too. We may not go where no man--or woman--has ever gone before, and our achievements may be small steps for mankind but giant leaps for us. Every flight is different, presenting unique challenges and experiences, and we share a passion that few people outside the pilot community can truly understand.
I recently received an e-mail from John Mateka, a student pilot in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He'd written me earlier in response to a column on the tradition of cutting a pilot's shirttails to commemorate the first solo--he had wondered about the decorated squares of cloth hanging from the walls at his flight school.
"Since learning about the shirttail tradition historically and academically, on September 3, 2005, I experience this moment personally," he said. After flying, then landing to refuel, flight instructor Deseray Gossot told him, "I am staying on the ground, and you are going to solo." When Mateka landed he was congratulated by a group of instructors, pilots, mechanics, and other students that had gathered. "Deseray handed me a yellow Rostraver Airport T-shirt to put on, then she cut out the shirttail and wrote the accomplishment. After this inspirational experience, I realized that everyone in this flying family cares deeply that you succeed."
Congratulations, John Mateka, on your pioneering flight--and to all you aviation pioneers.
Driving back from the SpaceShipOne dedication, I changed stations on the car radio to hear Elton John launch into the refrain of "Rocket Man." The timing of Bernie Taupin's lyrics couldn't have been better.
And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touchdown brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone.
E-mail Mike Collins, editor of AOPA Flight Training.
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