SpaceShipOne took an important step yesterday in winning the coveted $10 million Ansari X Prize, an award given to the first privately financed three-seat spacecraft to reach an altitude of 62 miles and repeat the feat within a couple of weeks. The requirements are geared to allow for extra paying customers and reusability of the spaceship, respectively.

Space.com had many articles on the subject today. Pilot Mike Melvill achieved a bit more than 400 feet above the distance considered to be the boundary of space, namely 62.2 miles above the Earth. The flight duration was pegged at roughly 90 minutes. By contrast, in 1961, Alan Shepard, the first American in space, soared to an altitude of 115 miles, although the flight on that occasion only lasted for about 15 minutes.