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SpaceShipOne Succeeds in Trailblazing First Shot at $10 Million X Prize

Updated at 11:55 a.m. ET

MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA - In a mission that could herald a new era of space tourism, a privately built, three-person rocket ship flew to space and back today. The event was the first of two flights scheduled to capture the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

The mission had tense moments as the craft appeared to make an unscripted roll near the top of its flight.

The X Prize money goes to the first privately built vehicle that can haul a pilot and two passengers to the edge of space, then repeat the feat within two weeks, in this case by Oct. 13. SpaceShipOne's design team, Scaled Composites, based here at the Mojave Spaceport, said before the flight that they were ready to turn the vehicle around for reflight, perhaps making the second rocket run Oct. 4.