It flies!

[brooksmoses]

And privately-sponsored spaceflight is one step closer to reality. As shown in this recent Astronomy Picture of the Day, Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne has finally made a test flight. Admittedly, it's only a test of the part of the flight where it's lifted to 50,000 feet under the belly of a specially-designed carrier, and there's still a long way to go, but it's still good to see that it's real and that it flies. It's also at a point where I think it's a fair bet that their design will either work or come very very close.