Timeline for Has anyone ever flown to space in a vehicle they helped build?
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| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 12, 2020 at 17:37 | comment | added | Dan Hanson | I think the closest to an answer would be Mike Melville. He started at Rutan Aircraft as a builder - he was hired because he built a copy of one of Rutan's earliest planes, the Vari-Viggen, and Rutan hired him based in part on how well it was built. He then became Rutan's test pilot for Spaceship One, but I have no doubt he contributed to the construction of many Rutan air/space vehicles. I didn't make this a formal answer because my cite is just my memory of my time being involved in homebuilt aviation. Documentary evidence is thin on the early days of Scaled Composites. | |
| May 9, 2020 at 3:01 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackSpaceExp/status/1258955123616874496 | ||
| May 9, 2020 at 2:25 | vote | accept | Wyck | ||
| May 9, 2020 at 2:21 | history | edited | Wyck | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
An attempt to quality what it means to have "helped build it"
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| May 9, 2020 at 0:25 | comment | added | Organic Marble | Good point @RussellBorogove The first two shuttle astronauts Crippen and Young were heavily involved in the design of the onboard computer displays. | |
| May 8, 2020 at 22:14 | comment | added | Russell Borogove | Depends on what you mean by "helped build". Gus Grissom participated in the design of the Gemini spacecraft, and flew as commander on the first crewed flight of Gemini. | |
| May 8, 2020 at 21:49 | answer | added | user2705196 | timeline score: 12 | |
| May 8, 2020 at 20:58 | comment | added | DrSheldon | @OrganicMarble: I believe your two examples are worthy of an answer post. | |
| May 8, 2020 at 19:30 | comment | added | Organic Marble | Also, former astronaut and national treasure Nicole Stott en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Stott was an engineer in the Orbiter Processing Facility where they worked on the shuttles before she became an astronaut. Not sure if that counts as "building" one but certainly working on one. | |
| May 8, 2020 at 18:13 | answer | added | Uwe | timeline score: 1 | |
| May 8, 2020 at 17:24 | comment | added | Organic Marble | Not yet, but Chris Ferguson is the project manager on the Boeing capsule, and is going to be its commander on the first flight. | |
| May 8, 2020 at 17:19 | comment | added | SF. | Not build, but definitely hands-on approach in mission design, in particular orbital mechanics calculations - Buzz Aldrin. | |
| May 8, 2020 at 16:57 | history | migrated | from engineering.stackexchange.com (revisions) | ||
| May 7, 2020 at 21:20 | answer | added | Russell McMahon | timeline score: 1 | |
| May 7, 2020 at 14:40 | comment | added | Eric Shain | @RussellMcMahon SpaceShipOne only exceeded the Karman line twice. The two pilots were Mike Melvill and Brian BInnie. I couldn't find any references to say either actually had a hand in actual construction of the vehicle. | |
| May 7, 2020 at 14:11 | comment | added | Wyck | @EricShain Thanks for highlighting that nuance. For this question I was looking for very direct involvement - getting your hands dirty - turning screws and bending metal. i.e.: build - not just design. We are all citizens of the planet, we all contribute in some very very very indirect butterfly-effect kind of way to the economy that built the ship (not to belittle the design contributions of the Mercury astronauts, or your insight, which I do appreciate.) | |
| May 7, 2020 at 14:02 | comment | added | Eric Shain | What constitutes "helped build". Manual assembly or helping with the design? I believe the Mercury astronauts insisted the capsule have windows which were added to the design. Does this constitute helping build (design)? | |
| May 7, 2020 at 12:58 | comment | added | Russell McMahon | Some of Spaceship-1 / Burt Rutan's people may well qualify. At one stage John Carmack was going in that direction. | |
| May 7, 2020 at 12:54 | history | asked | Wyck | CC BY-SA 4.0 |