SpaceShipOne Wins X-Prize; Provides Ideas for SpaceShipTwo

For the second time in five days, SpaceShipOne flew into space and claimed the $10 million X-Prize. Early numbers indicate the space ship reached an altitude of 368,000 miles, a new altitude record for private space flight.

Brian Binnie piloted today's historic flight and thus became the second astronaut created by SpaceShipOne.

Unlike last week's flight, when SpaceShipOne rolled more than a dozen during its trajectory, this flight went off without any apparent hitches. Additionally, the craft once again proved that higher altitudes are easily within reach.

Already, Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites are preparing for the next generation of private space flight. According to Burt Rutan today, "We will be developing new ideas also on SpaceShipTwo. What you've seen here is a research and development program to look at new ideas on how manned spacecraft can really be significantly safer...and there will be new ideas out there."