Black Sky: The Race for Space (TV 2004)

The remarkable story of Burt Rutan and SpaceShipOne. Only three of the most powerful governments in the world have achieved what they set out to do from a garage in the Mojave desert: to put a man in space.

Directors:

Scott B, Sandy Guthrie,

Writers:

Scott B, Sandy Guthrie

Stars:

Paul G. Allen, Jim Benson, Brian Binnie

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Paul G. Allen	...	Himself
Jim Benson	...	Himself
Brian Binnie	...	Himself
Cory Bird	...	Himself
John Campbell	...	Himself
Chuck Coleman	...	Himself
Korey Kline	...	Himself
Steve Losey	...	Himself
Mike Melvill	...	Himself
Sally Melvill	...	Herself
Burt Rutan	...	Himself
Doug Shane	...	Himself
Peter Siebold	...	Himself
Matt Steinmetze	...	Himself
Jim Tighe	...	Himself

Storyline

The remarkable story of Burt Rutan and SpaceShipOne. Only three of the most powerful governments in the world have achieved what they set out to do from a garage in the Mojave desert: to put a man in space.

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Plot Keywords:

rutan | spaceshipone

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 October 2004 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gemini Productions, Antenna Films, Discovery Channel

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Improments needed for SpaceShp One

Burt Ruttan was a genius to see the recovery needed no plane or parachute just folding the wing into a feather mode to slow the drag until a subsonic mode and unfolding the wing and a glide to land. Every else thought of heat he knew how to counter that. That's how he won the X prize.

Now that SpaceShip One is a sub-orbital ship with 1 man the need to create a cabin with a low weight material that weights less than steel for a stronger body and wings. Now they need to have better material for the windows they need to have a interior foil material to protect the civilians in space too. All Burt Rutan needs to get that in space by doubling the rockets power, adding a computer for calculating GPS mapping and pressurision to make a orbital flight.

I loved how Burt Ruttan made some risks where more were more careful. They thought of the way we recovered past space missions and he took the way that the X-15 and Space Shuttle failed and decided to scrap the rocket plane and use a low drag method to land.

NASA should take this idea as a safety recovery for the ISS Space Station and include it in the Shuttle in case it failed in space and a safe crew recovery needed.