Abstract
McCurdy describes the events that led to the creation of Virgin Galactic, notably the evolution of the Ansari X Prize and the investments it attracted. Upon completing the first task necessary to receive the $10 million award, the pilot of the winning entry hoisted a sign with the name of his spacecraft SpaceShipOne followed by the words “Government Zero.” Competitors could not seek government help to win the prize.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Jeff Foust, “SpaceShipOne, government one?” The Space Review (June 21, 2010).
- 2.
Ansari XPRIZE, <ansari.xprize.org> 9 November 2016 (accessed 9 November 2016).
- 3.
Peter Diamandis, “LinkedIn: Experience,” <linkedin.com/in/peterdiamandis> 9 November 2016 (accessed 9 November 2016).
- 4.
Helen O’Neill, “The space visionary behind the X Prize,” Today <today.com> 16 October 2004 (accessed 9 November 2016).
- 5.
Peter Diamandis, “The X PRIZE Competition,” New Space Markets: Symposium proceedings: International symposium, Strassbourg, France. 1 May 1998: 213–22 (accessed 9 November 2016); Instagram photo: Peter Diamandis, @peterhdiamandis <imgrum.net> 18 May 2016 (accessed 9 November 2016).
- 6.
Quoted from Helen O’Neill, “The space visionary behind the X Prize,” www.today.com (October 16, 2004). Accessed November 16, 2016.
- 7.
Eric Dash, “America’s 40 Richest Under 40,” Fortune (September 17, 2001); Anousheh Ansari with Homer Hickam, My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
- 8.
Ansari, My Dream of Stars, 75; Irene Klotz, “Space Race II Looking for a hole in one,” Space Daily/UPI (August 31, 2004). Accessed November 16, 2016.
- 9.
Ansari, My Dream of Stars, 90; New Mexico Museum of Space History, International Space Hall of Fame, “Anousheh Ansari,” <nmspacemuseum.org> 2016 (accessed November 16, 2016).
- 10.
Quoted from Ian Parker, “The X Prize: Competing in the entrepreneurial space race,” New Yorker (October 4, 2004). The article should be required reading for anyone interested in the new space movement.
- 11.
Forbes, “Forbes Four Hundred Richest People in America,” Forbes.com, 1996. Accessed November 17, 2016.
- 12.
Ansari, My Dream of Stars, 78.
- 13.
Parker, “The X Prize;” Alan Boyle, “Engine flaw causes Space Transport’s Rubicon to explode after launch, no one hurt.” msnbc.com (August 9, 2004). See also Cathleen Manville, “Rocket engine fails; Rubicon destroyed in test flight off Queets.” spacefellowship.com (August 9, 2004). Both accessed November 17, 2016.
- 14.
They are the da Vinci project with its balloon-lofted Wild Fire rocket (ready to launch but never flown); Armadillo Aerospace, whose cone-shaped Armadillo crashed in early August 2004; the V-2-shaped Canadian Arrow subjected to two drop tests in mid-2004; and the ill-fated Rubicon 1 flown by the Space Transportation Corporation of Forks, Washington. A Romanian team designed a winged Orizont suborbital vehicle and flew a more conventional Demonstrator 2B in September 2004. See Tariq Malik, “X Prize Contenders Prepare for Drop Test,” Space.com (August 13, 2004).
- 15.
Leonard David, “The Next Great Space Race: SpaceShipOne and Wild Fire to Go for the Gold.” Space.com (July 27, 2004). The contributed worker time estimate is based on a reported volunteer value of $10–15 million.
- 16.
See Patrick L. Thimangu, “They fueled the flight,” St. Louis Business Journal (June 24, 2004) and Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom, Realizing Tomorrow: The Path to Private Spaceflight. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011: 176.
- 17.
See Carl Hoffman, “The Right Stuff,” Wired (July 1, 2003). For comments on the trillion-dollar space industry, see Kevin O’Connell, “Remarks on the Trillion Dollar Space Economy,” U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Space Commerce, November 27, 2018.
- 18.
Paul Allen, <paulallen.com> 2017 (accessed April 28, 2017); David Kushner, Masters of Doom. Random House, 2004.
- 19.
Ansari, My Dream of Stars, 78.
- 20.
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, The U.S. Commercial Suborbital Industry: A Space Renaissance in the Making. Office of Commercial Space Transportation, 2013: 15.
- 21.
- 22.
Alex Knapp, “Bootstrapping to the Stars,” Forbes (June 18, 2014); Andy Pasztor, “Economy Fare ($100,000) Lifts Space-Tourism Race,” Wall Street Journal (March 26, 2008).
- 23.
U.S. Department of Transportation, The U.S. Commercial Suborbital Industry.
- 24.
Aabar, “Aabar Investments and Virgin Group Agree Equity Investment Partnership in Virgin Galactic,” (28 July 2009).
- 25.
Gordon, “Virgin group: Brand it like Branson.”
- 26.
Gordon, “Virgin group: Brand it like Branson.”
- 27.
Virgin Galactic, “Virgin Galactic Wins NASA Contract to Launch More Than a Dozen Satellites on LauncherOne,” (October 14, 2015).
- 28.
The X Prize Foundation received its tax-exempt status in 1999. Source: X Prize Foundation Inc, GuideStar, <guidestar.org> 2017 (accessed April 28, 2017).
- 29.
Jeff Foust, “Virgin Galactic and the future of commercial spaceflight,” The Space Review (May 23, 2005).
- 30.
G. Daly, C. Knight, K. Mason, “Observations and comments on Cal/OSHA report (Inspection No: 31081103) on fatal accident at Mojave test site of Scaled Composites at the Mojave Air and Space Port, 26th July 2007.”
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McCurdy, H.E. (2019). Virgin Galactic: Promoters and Prizes. In: Financing the New Space Industry. Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32292-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32292-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32291-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32292-2
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)