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	Royce Carlton - Michael Melvill First Civilian Astronaut SpaceShipOne Scaled Composites
		Mike Melvill is now known the world over as the first civilian to fly an aircraft into space and the first private pilot to earn astronaut wings.
		Michael Melvill is a true American hero filled with courage, determination and genuine bravery.
		A native of South Africa, Melvill was hired by Scaled Composites in 1978.
	www.roycecarlton.com /speakers/melvill.html (451 words)

	Mike Melvill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill (born November 1941) is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites.
		Melvill is an associate fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots; in 1999, he received their Iven C. Kincheloe trophy for his work in high-altitude development testing Scaled's Model 281 Proteus.
		Melvill was the pilot for SpaceShipOne flight 15P, SpaceShipOne's first spaceflight and the first privately-funded human spaceflight mission, on the morning of June 21, 2004.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Michael_Melvill (399 words)

	washingtonpost.com: Civilian Spacecraft Rolls Into Space in Bid to Win $10 Million
		A jubilant Melvill glided SpaceShipOne gently to a stop on a remote airstrip in the Mojave Desert, dismissing the journey's dramatic climax as a "a victory roll." Engineers said that the spacecraft has rolled on every flight but that they are investigating the cause.
		Melvill easily reached the 100-kilometer (328,084 feet) altitude defined as "space" and put SpaceShipOne on track to fly again by Oct. 13 to claim the X Prize.
		Melvill had aboard several hundred pounds of ballast, mostly mementos and memorabilia, including seedlings from the desert and Terrence, a teddy bear that flew with U2 spy flight pilots.
	www.washingtonpost.com /ac2/wp-dyn/A59435-2004Sep29?language=printer (937 words)

	Wild ride puts pilot at space's threshold \| The San Diego Union-Tribune
		Michael Melvill celebrated on top of SpaceShipOne yesterday after landing the rocket plane at Mojave Airport, north of Los Angeles.
		Melvill said he shut down the engine 11 seconds earlier than planned after determining that the craft would reach its target height.
		Melvill was asked about the flight video watched by TV audiences and how it appeared to show a difficult flight.
	www.signonsandiego.com /uniontrib/20040930/news_1n30space.html (696 words)

	cooltech.iafrica.com \| space SA pilot was 'deathly afraid'
		Michael Melvill, the pilot of the first manned private trip to the edge of space this week, has told how he feared he would not return from the landmark mission.
		The South African-born Melvill told the New York Times, in an interview published on Wednesday, that SpaceShipOne lurched to the left and suffered a key control system failure that left him feeling "deathly afraid" and fearing he was going to be a "squashed bug".
		Melvill (62) said his age was a factor that may have helped him manoeuvre the troubled ship and glide to back to Earth safely.
	cooltech.iafrica.com /space/330865.htm (424 words)

	Wired News: SpaceShipOne Rolls Toward Victory
		Melvill conceded it was possible he had triggered the problem by inadvertently operating
		Melvill, 62, quickly corrected the spin using the space plane's reaction-control system, or thrusters, and had a smooth flight to an altitude pegged by radar at nearby Edwards Air Force Base at 337,000 feet.
		He added that Melvill was directed to shut down his engines a few seconds earlier than planned, but only after the flight had clinched the 100-kilometer target.
	www.wired.com /news/space/0,2697,65129,00.html?tw=wn_1techhead (807 words)

	Space Pioneer Michael Melvill Keynotes at Annual TSMC Technology Symposium
		Melvill's keynote presentation, delivered at the San Jose Convention Center, elaborates on his experience as the first civilian astronaut to pilot the experimental SpaceShip One into space.
		Melvill's keynote likens the excitement of spaceflight innovation to the excitement that drives the success of the foundry industry.
		Melvill and TSMC also jointly donated a set of exciting photographs from this historic flight as the first contribution to a brand-new IISME Resource Library that will provide teachers with the tools they need to invigorate interest in science and engineering among Silicon Valley students.
	www.mirror99.com /t.jsp (773 words)

	Dispatch Online - Your premier Eastern Cape news site
		UPBEAT TRIO: Pilot Michael Melvill is flanked by project backer Paul Allen, left, and aerospace engineer Burt Rutan as they celebrate next to SpaceShipOne after a trip to suborbital space from Mojave airport in California.
		His sister, Rosemary "Bunny" Melvill, lives in Durban where she is a theatre matron, and he has cousins in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
		Melvill was born in Johannesburg in 1940 and his parents moved to Durban when he was young.
	www.dispatch.co.za /2004/06/24/Easterncape/bspace.html (676 words)

	Private rocket ship has wild ride - Science - www.smh.com.au
		Spaceship designer Burt Rutan said he asked pilot Michael Melvill to shut down the engine, but Melvill kept going until he reached the altitude specified under the rules for the Ansari X Prize, a bounty offered to the first privately built, manned rocket ship to fly in space twice in a span of two weeks.
		Rutan said controllers asked Melvill to shut the engine down early because of the rolling, but Melvill kept going until he was certain he would reach the target altitude.
		Melvill said he did shut down the engine 11 seconds earlier than planned after determining the craft would reach its target.
	www.smh.com.au /articles/2004/09/30/1096527871859.html?from=storylhs (782 words)

	FirstCoast News.com - Print Article
		SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan said controllers had asked Melvill to shut the engine down early because of the rolling problem, but Melvill kept going until he was certain he would reach the target altitude.
		Melvill also was the pilot in June, when the ship made its first trip into space ever by a private spacecraft.
		Melvill said he may have caused the rolling himself.
	www.firstcoastnews.com /printfullstory.aspx?storyid=24997 (648 words)

	CNN.com - Private craft soars into space, history - Jun 23, 2004
		Melvill said once he reached weightlessness, he opened a bag of MandM's in the cockpit, and the candies floated for three minutes while the ship soared high above California.
		A loud bang Melvill heard during the flight appeared to be a nonessential part of the composite airframe buckling near the rocket nozzle.
		Melvill, 63, picked up the nation's first pair of commercial astronaut's wings from the Federal Aviation Administration.
	www.cnn.com /2004/TECH/space/06/21/suborbital.test/index.html (1114 words)

	The Space Fellowship
		Test pilot Michael Melvill ignored a warning to abort yesterdayâs flight to complete the first stage of a quest to win a $10 million prize.
		Melvill and spacecraft designer Burt Rutan said yesterday they were confident the Monday flight would go on.
		Melvill was prepared to burn the motor up to 89 seconds, which indicates significant additional performance remains in SS1.
	www.spacefellowship.com /News/?m=200409 (4620 words)

	SpaceShipOne rocket plane climbs above Earth's atmosphere in first private space flight
		Pilot Michael Melvill kises his wife Sally goodby before he climbs aboard SpaceShipOne for a trip to suborbital space at Mojave, Calif., Monday, June 21, 2004.
		Melvill, 62, was selected for the flight from among the project's three pilots.
		Melvill is a test pilot and vice president-general manager at Rutan's company, Scaled Composites, which built SpaceShipOne and White Knight.
	www.freenewmexican.com /news/989.html (893 words)

	USATODAY.com - Private rocket takes wild ride in bid for X Prize (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-28)
		Ship designer Burt Rutan said he asked pilot Michael Melvill to shut down the engine, but Melvill kept going until he reached the altitude required to win the Ansari X Prize.
		Melvill said he did shut down the engine 11 seconds earlier than planned after determining the craft would reach its target height.
		Rutan said controllers asked Melvill to shut the engine down early because of the rolling problem, but Melvill kept going until he was certain he would reach the target altitude.
	www.usatoday.com /tech/science/space/2004-09-28-ansari_x.htm (969 words)

	CNN.com - Private spacecraft readied for historic flight - Jun 20, 2004
		Melvill was announced Sunday as the pilot of SpaceShipOne, as spectators streamed into the Mojave Desert to witness the historic flight.
		With only Melvill on board, Monday's flight will test SpaceShipOne's ability to reach the 62.5-mile altitude, which is the internationally agreed-upon boundary of space.
		Melvill spent 19 years piloting experimental aircraft, from crop dusters to jet fighters, according to Scaled Composites.
	www.cnn.com /2004/TECH/space/06/20/suborbital.test/index.html (775 words)

	SPACE.com -- Tense Moments During Trailblazing Private Space Flight
		Pilot Michael Melvill rockets skyward aboard SpaceShipOne after igniting the spacecraft's engine in its first Ansari X Prize flight.
		Melvill did indeed turn the spaceship into an airplane, as planned, and then glided down.
		Melvill said the control issues were building up, leading him to shut down the engine.
	www.space.com /missionlaunches/xprize_success_040929.html (1136 words)

	Space Pioneer Michael Melvill Keynotes at Annual TSMC Technology Symposium; Melvill Presentation Exemplifies ...
		Melvill's keynote presentation, delivered at the San Jose Convention Center, elaborates on his experience as the first civilian astronaut to pilot the experimental SpaceShip One into space.
		Melvill's keynote likens the excitement of spaceflight innovation to the excitement that drives the success of the foundry industry.
		Melvill and TSMC also jointly donated a set of exciting photographs from this historic flight as the first contribution to a brand-new IISME Resource Library that will provide teachers with the tools they need to invigorate interest in science and engineering among Silicon Valley students.
	www.tmcnet.com /usubmit/2005/apr/1138079.htm (958 words)

	CNN.com - Transcripts
		In the words of Michael Melvill, that's his name, "you get a hell of a view from 62 miles up.
		Astronaut Michael Melvill, who this morning became the first private citizen to steer a privately-funded ship into space.
		Shortly after Melvill lit the rocket motor fueled by a mixture of rubber and nitrous oxide -- laughing gas -- there was a no-laughing- matter problem with the critical flight controls.
	cnnstudentnews.cnn.com /TRANSCRIPTS/0406/21/asb.00.html (6337 words)

	Michael Melvill
		The first to enter space aboard a privately funded spacecraft, Michael Melville attained an elevation of 300,000 feet aboard SpaceShipOne on 21 June 2004.
		The craft was sponsored by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen to the tune of $20M and designed by Burt Rutan.
		Melvill as a teenager lived in London, moved to the United States in the 1970s, and is now a naturalized citizen.
	www.nndb.com /people/496/000051343 (197 words)

	'Deborah Norville Tonight' for July 8 - MSNBC Transcripts - MSNBC.com
		MELVILL: That‘s correct. There was a loud explosion and a large vibration as part of the fuel that‘s in the rocket motor went out through the nozzle and jammed the nozzle for a split second and then the pressure built up and blew it out.
		MELVILL: It was just a fun thing I did. I took a bag of MandM candy with me and took them out of my pocket when I was at the apogee and released them in front of my face and just let them float around like little satellites for a while.
		MELVILL: The X Prize is a bunch of money, $10 million, that‘s been set up by a consortium of businessmen, and there are a lot of teams out there right now trying to win that money. Unfortunately, we‘re going to win it, so they might as well give it up now.
	www.msnbc.msn.com /id/5403702 (4440 words)

	Rocket was rolling, but hopes still alive for a $10M prize \| www.azstarnet.com ®
		Pilot Michael Melvill celebrates on top of SpaceShipOne after landing in California's Mojave Desert.
		Ship designer Burt Rutan said he asked pilot Michael Melvill to shut down the engine, but Melvill kept going until he passed the 100-kilometer (62-mile) altitude required to win the Ansari X Prize.
		Melvill said he did shut down the engine 11 seconds earlier than planned after determining the craft would reach its target height.
	www.azstarnet.com /dailystar/snmedia/41257 (378 words)

	BelloNientes.com » Blog Archive » First privately financed space flight
		In Washington, Michael Lembeck of NASA (news - web sites)’s office of exploration systems said the agency might offer up to $30 million in prizes to encourage commercial missions to orbit the Earth or land on the moon.
		Melvill’s mission was the first privately piloted flight in the space age that began when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth in 1961.
		The Federal Aviation Administration awarded Melvill with its first civilian astronaut wings, and Guinness World records cited the team for achieving the first commercial manned space flight.
	bellonientes.com /?p=6 (666 words)

	Times & Seasons » One Small Step
		If Melvill, designer Bert Rutan, and the rest of their team can do just two such flights with slightly more cargo weight in a two-week span they stand to win the the Ansari X Space prize.
		Sure, billionaire-backer Paul Allen is talking suborbital tourism but even Melvill looked pained at the press conference when Allen brought it up.
		Melvill was visibly moved after his flight into space.
	www.timesandseasons.org /index.php?p=948 (809 words)

	Northwest Herald - Online (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-28)
		The problem was being analyzed by the spacecraft's builders, who must decide whether to proceed with another flight Monday to win the X Prize.
		The Ansari X Prize will go to the first craft to safely complete two flights to an altitude of 328,000 feet, or 62 miles – generally considered to be the point where the Earth's atmosphere ends and space begins – in a 14-day span.
		At 47,000 feet, SpaceShipOne was released, and Melvill fired its rocket motor and pointed the nose toward space.
	www.nwherald.com /print/281567841802027.php (746 words)

	Badnarik for Congress » Blognarik » Blog Archive » SpaceShipOne, Government Zero (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-28)
		Michael Badnarik sent out a letter of congratulations to Paul Allen, Burt Rutan and Michael Melvill for their success in the first free market space launch.
		I hope Michael is ideeed able to be present when the XPrize is won, whether by Scaled Composites or any dark horse contender.
		The more Michael can be seen endorsing and supporting workable private-sector alternatives to government intervention, the more people can realize that freedom DOES work, and that the sky would not fall with Libertarians in office.
	badnarik.org /supporters/blog/2004/06/23/spaceshipone-government-zero (441 words)

	:: MWEB NEWS ::
		By the time I get up there, when you can buy a return ticket for a boys’ weekend away, all drinks included and a souvenir tog-bag, it won’t be of much interest to me whether I am the 332nd African in space or the 333rd.
		But it is noticeable that the press isn’t making such a yell and a splash about Michael Melvill as they did about Mark Shuttleworth, which is odd, really, considering that Michael Melvill actually did something to get up there, rather than just paying for an awfully over-priced tourist’s ticket.
		Then again, Mike Melvill isn’t a multi-squillionaire or of marriageable age, so I suppose in the eyes of the nation’s media, he isn’t half as interesting.
	new.mweb.co.za /news/news_story.jsp?content=121910 (700 words)

	CNN.com - Transcripts
		SpaceShipOne rolled for about a minute before pilot Michael Melvill brought it under control and returned to California as planned.
		By the way, live picture to the left on your inset of Mike Melvill, sitting atop his craft as he kind of has his little victory tour.
		In his self-deprecating way, Mike Melvill saying, you know, "Maybe I caused that roll." But he doesn't seem -- having seen him talk about it, he clearly doesn't seem at all shaken by that event.
	cnnstudentnews.cnn.com /TRANSCRIPTS/0409/29/nfcnn.01.html (7701 words)

	Private craft rockets into space — and history (printable version)
		PT on the first day of summer, pilot Michael Melvill fired the rocket of a craft called SpaceShipOne and shot through the atmosphere at more than three times the speed of sound.
		The historic flight ended with Melvill gently touching down 25 minutes later at the airport in this desert town.
		By taking SpaceShipOne above 62 miles, Melvill attained the altitude needed to qualify for the prize, a privately funded award offered to encourage the development of commercial space flight.
	www.rgj.com /news/printstory.php?id=73721 (503 words)

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