Oct 10 2005
From The Space Library
JAXA successfully tested an experimental aircraft capable of flying at Mach 2, which is twice the speed of sound. JAXA launched the aircraft, formally known as the Scaled Experimental Supersonic Transport (SST), on a rocket from Australia's Woomera Test Range at 7:06 a.m. (local time). After its release from the rocket, the SST flew for nearly 15 minutes at speeds of Mach 1.9 to 2 (1,446 to 1,522 miles per hour or 2,327 to 2,449 kilometers per hour) and at altitudes ranging from 12 to 19 kilometers (7.5 to 11.8 miles). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had developed the SST as part of a US$10 million program to create an aircraft capable of transporting 300 passengers between Los Angeles and Tokyo in approximately 4 hours. (Meraiah Foley, “Flying High: Speedy Japanese Jet Passes Test,” Houston Chronicle, 11 October 2005; JAXA, “Flight Trial Result of Scaled Experimental Supersonic Transport,” news release, 10 October 2005, http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2005/10/20051010_sst_e.html (accessed 15 July 2009).)
The crew of Expedition 11 returned to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, landing at 9:09 p.m. (EDT) in Kazakhstan. The members of Expedition 11 were Russian cosmonaut Commander Sergei K. Krikalev and American astronaut John L. Phillips. The two men had spent 179 days in space, during which time they had performed a variety of scientific experiments and maintenance tasks at the ISS. Accompanying Krikalev and Phillips on their return was American contractor Gregory Olsen, who had spent eight days on the ISS performing research under a commercial agreement with the Russian Space Agency. (NASA, “Expedition 11 Safely Returns from International Space Station,” news release 05-340, 10 October 2005.)
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