science

SpaceShipOne flight 11P

SpaceShipOne flight 11P is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand SpaceShipOne flight 11P rather than just read about it. In short: Flight 11P of SpaceShipOne was its eighth independent flight, its first powered flight, and the first privately funded crewed flight to reach supersonic speeds. It occurred on December 17, 2003.

Key takeaways

SpaceShipOne flight 11P belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect SpaceShipOne flight 11P to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of SpaceShipOne flight 11P from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Flight 11P of SpaceShipOne was its eighth independent flight, its first powered flight, and the first privately funded crewed flight to reach supersonic speeds. It occurred on December 17, 2003. The date of the test flight was 100 years to the day (and almost to the hour) since the Wright Brothers made the first powered flight. It followed several months of glide tests. The pilot was Brian Binnie.

Details White Knight, piloted by Peter Siebold, carried SpaceShipOne to launch altitude. At 08:15 PDT at an altitude of 47,900 feet (14.6 km) and a speed of 112 knots (58 m/s), SpaceShipOne was released from White Knight. After gliding to 44,400 feet (13.5 km) and accelerating to Mach 0.55, the rocket was lit for a 15 second burn. Nine seconds into the burn, SpaceShipOne exceeded the speed of sound. The craft climbed at a 70-degree angle, accelerating at 3 g (30 m/s²). At burn-out the Mach number was 1.2. The craft coasted to an apogee altitude of 67,800 feet (20.7 km). The craft was reconfigured into high-drag ("feathered") mode to begin descent. After about a minute of descent, it switched to glider configuration at 35,000 feet (10.7 km). It then glided for 12 minutes back to Mojave Airport. During landing a roll oscillation caused the left main gear to collapse. The craft made a runway excursion rolling to a stop in soft sand. The craft sustained minor damage, later repaired, and the pilot was uninjured.

References

External links Scaled Composites' public flight log Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine X Prize page about Scaled Composites Archived 2004-06-24 at the Wayback Machine SpaceShipOne breaks the sound barrier Archived 2016-09-11 at the Wayback Machine — press release from Scaled Composites

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with SpaceShipOne flight 11P

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what SpaceShipOne flight 11P claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to SpaceShipOne flight 11P before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about SpaceShipOne flight 11P ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of SpaceShipOne flight 11P

In research: SpaceShipOne flight 11P appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses SpaceShipOne flight 11P in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: SpaceShipOne flight 11P is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2003 in spaceflight, SpaceShipOne human spaceflights, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for SpaceShipOne flight 11P outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study SpaceShipOne flight 11P in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what SpaceShipOne flight 11P means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain SpaceShipOne flight 11P out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is SpaceShipOne flight 11P in simple terms?

Flight 11P of SpaceShipOne was its eighth independent flight, its first powered flight, and the first privately funded crewed flight to reach supersonic speeds. It occurred on December 17, 2003.

Why does SpaceShipOne flight 11P matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study SpaceShipOne flight 11P?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on SpaceShipOne flight 11P.