First Phase Of EZ-Rocket Flight Testing Completed
"Up, up and away" the EZ-Rocket, with its twin 400 lb thrust engines flies high into the skies above the Mojave Desert |
Mojave - Oct 9, 2001
XCOR Aerospace said Tuesday that it has successfully completed the first phase of its flight test program for the EZ-Rocket. The EZ-Rocket is the world's first privately built rocket powered airplane.
At 0900 hours on Oct 3 the EZ-Rocket took off from the Mojave Civilian Flight Test Center to an altitude of 6,200 feet before gliding back to Runway 30. The EZ-Rocket is powered by twin 400 pound thrust rocket engines designed and built by XCOR Aerospace.
The flight test program passed its first milestone by flying with both engines for an engine run time of 96 seconds and total flight time of five minutes and twenty.
XCOR's test pilot is retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Dick Rutan, a Vietnam veteran and world-famous test pilot. "I ignited one engine and the crew said everything looked good, so I lit the second engine and we started moving," said Lt. Col. Rutan.
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