Cool

Apparently, today's the day for Mike Melvill to pilot SpaceShipOne out of (and then back into) Earth's atmosphere, making him the first human sent into space without spending a dime of government money. That's right: 'Twas to be the first-ever privately funded manned spaceflight. Something of a milestone.

The project's website tells me that launch was going to happen some time after 9:30 AM EST. It's a quarter after eleven now and I'm just kind of hunting around looking for more info on this (like, did the thing even actually take off yet?) and I'll update this post if/when I find something.

(Hat tip: Inoperable Terran)

UPDATE- Aha, Yahoo News has a buncha details and is covering the flight as it's happening right here. Looks like the ship is currently aloft, which is a good thing for it to be. Godspeed, Mr. Melvill.

UPDATE AGAIN- From Space.com's coverage: "11:08 a.m. ET: Mike Melvill and his SpaceShipOne have made it into space. Everything looks good, mission official said, and the craft is now gliding back toward a landing at the Mojave Airport, where it took off earlier this morning.

I'll say it again: Cool!

I've got to admit, I'm pretty surprised that places like Tech Central Station aren't covering this. "Where Free Markets Meet Technology?" Hello, guys?