Spectacle
Scaled Composites, the makers of SpaceShipOne, announced the planned spaceflight on June 2, 2004, and invited the public to watch. An estimated 11,000 people went to Mojave Spaceport to watch the flight, and millions more watched on television. Distinguished attendees included former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and the Commanding Officer of Edwards Air Force Base.
Because SpaceShipOne launches to the east of Mojave Spaceport early in the morning, the crowd at the spaceport found themselves looking into the sun when watching the aircraft. Nevertheless, the crowd was exuberant, cheering every milestone in the flight, including the double sonic boom following the thrust phase. After SpaceShipOne landed, White Knight and the chase planes made celebratory passes over the runway. Mike Melvill displayed great excitement, waving to the crowd while standing on top of SpaceShipOne. He also held up a sign reading "SpaceShipOne, GovernmentZero," given to him by a spectator. Melvill was greeted by Buzz Aldrin, the second person to have walked on the Moon.
Read more about this topic: SpaceShipOne Flight 15P
Famous quotes containing the word spectacle:
“There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves.”
—Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938)
“My curiosity to see the melancholy spectacle of the executions was so strong that I could not resist it, although I was sensible that I would suffer much from it.... I got upon a scaffold near the fatal tree so that I could clearly see all the dismal scene.... I was most terribly shocked, and thrown into a very deep melancholy.”
—James Boswell (1740–1795)
“What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?”
—James Madison (1751–1836)