May 17 1996
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
Peter H. Diamandis, President of Angel Technologies Corporation, an aerospace firm located in St. Louis, Missouri, offered a US$ 10 million prize to the first private aviators to complete a suborbital flight into space. Diamandis stated that the object of the prize was to motivate private companies to invest in space exploration, someday making spaceflights open to the public. "We're looking to spark a constructive competition," Diamandis explained. To claim the prize, the privately financed and built aircraft would have to ascend to 62 miles (100 kilometers) high, twice within a period of two weeks, delivering three passengers safely to space and back. Diamandis claimed that creating an entirely reusable Space Shuttle would considerably decrease the cost of going to space, opening the space frontier to people who had not trained as professional astronauts. Diamandis intended to announce the winner of the "X Prize" on 18 May, beneath the St. Louis Gateway Arch. Creator of the Voyager and top contender for the prize Burt Rutan, as well as NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, planned to attend the award ceremony.
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