"Yeehaw!"

Houston Chronicle:

The world's first privately developed rocket ship soared into the fringes of space early today, opening a door to commercial space passsenger travel and earning astronaut wings for corporate astronaut Mike Melvill.

Launched from the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center northeast of Los Angeles, SpaceShipOne climbed to an altitude of 62.5 miles in the restricted air space west of the airport.

The 90-minute roundtrip, including Melvill's breathtaking sprint into space marked the first time an astronaut who is not part of a government space agency like NASA or those operated by the Russians or Chinese has crossed the threshold of space. Backers of the privately funded, seven-year effort hope the mission will encourage a new era of ticketed space passenger travel.

"Yeehaw!" yelled a triumphant Melvill, a 62-year-old grandfather, as his blunt-nosed spacecraft rolled to a landing. "I feel great."

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