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SpaceShipOne Returns to the Runway

by Nick Greene
for About.com

SpaceShipOne Returns to the Runway

SpaceShipOne Returns to the Runway

Scaled Composites
Shown just before touchdown at 90 mph, SpaceShipOne returns to the runway. Upon re-entry, the pilot reconfigures the ship back to a normal glider, and then spends 15 to 20 minutes gliding back to earth, touching down like an airplane on the same runway from which he took off.

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Image Credit: Scaled Composites, LLC

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