Private (Non-Government-Funded) Space Flight

SpaceShipOne

Back in 2004, a guy named Brian Binnie flew this rocket-powered Space Ship, basically built in Burt Rutan’s garage, into space. No computer controls, not even hydraulics…the controls were connected to the joystick by cables and pulleys, just like a WWI biplane. THIS was the first privately built aircraft to fly to space, and it did it twice within two weeks winning the US$10,000,000 Ansari X Prize.

We’ve heard a lot recently about Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos taking private aircraft into space, but this was the real beginning of private space flight.