Congrats to the SpaceShipOne team

TV is good for something. I've been watching SpaceShipOne mission live on CNN this morning, and it's been a good show. Watching clips on the evening news just doesn't compare at all to watching it all happen live. There were a few moments on the ascent when it looked the craft was going to spin out of control. As it was making its final burn into space, it started rocking back and forth as the pilot tried to steady it. Then it started spinning uncontrolably and I feared for the worse. It spun over twenty times, but the pilot finally straightened it out. A tension-filled few minutes.

The ship completed its mission and landed perfectly, but to qualify for the X-prize They've got to do it again next Monday. I wonder if they'll cancel the attempt while they work to figure out how to avoid what went wrong from happening again.