Last year, we announced the loan of the RC test model of SpaceShipOne by Scaled Composite’s Burt Rutan and Dan Kreigh. We’re pleased to say that it is finally here!
Designed by Burt Rutan, SpaceShipOne was an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with suborbital flight capability and unique “feathering” reentry system – the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folded upward along a hinge running the length of the wing increasing drag while remaining stable. SpaceShipOne completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004.
Dan Kreigh built the test model to help Burt Rutan demonstrate the re-entry feathering concept. Burt had Dan fly the RC test model for all the SpaceShipOne test pilots to instill confidence that the feathering concept would work.
Exhibited next to the NASA research models, SpaceShipOne will fill the vacant spot left by the loan of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and Orbiter test models to Space Center Houston.
The SpaceShipOne RC test model is on loan courtesy of Dan Kreigh and Burt Rutan.
I am glad to see that you have a subject of interest that is not a quad or a FPV drone. I’m not totally against them but it’s getting old.
It was advertised last year when Burt was trying to raise money for one of his projects, that there would be an RC version of White Knight and SpaceShipOne on the market by February. So what happened? Did Burt give up on the little people who support him in favor of getting support from the National Aviation Model Museum?
The White Knight/SpaceShipOne RC versions was a KickStarter that unfortunately did not meet the required funds to go into production. They might try again, but I haven’t heard anything yet.
Amen to that….BertVanOstran. It is getting old.
That’s one (back-ward) step for static scale models… and… one giant leap for R/C Scale Modeling!
What scale is it in ?
The SpaceShipOne model is not an exact scale representation, but it is roughly 1/10th scale.