Doodlewatch

Flight 17P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight in the Tier One program that took place on October 4, 2004. It was the second competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition to demonstrate a non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft, and is hence also referred to as the X2 flight. It was a successful flight, winning the X PRIZE.

To win the X PRIZE, a spacecraft needed to make two successful competitive flights within 14 days. SpaceShipOne made a successful competitive flight on September 29, 2004, and so needed to make a second by October 13, 2004 in order to win. Scaled Composites aimed to be able to fly three times within the two weeks in order to allow for a failed flight.

The date of the flight, October 4, 2004, was the 47th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. SpaceShipOne’s first powered flight was, in a similar vein, on the 100th anniversary of the first ever powered flight by the Wright Brothers.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne_flight_17P