The Da Vinci Project Traditional Cache
TheVogonPoet: Hi,
I am archiving this cache as it has been disabled for over a year or appears to have been abandoned and in need of maintenance. If the owner wishes to resurrect it they may do so with a new listing.
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TheVogonPoet
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The eyes of the world were set to focus on the Kindersley Municipal Airport on October 2nd, 2004, for on that date, Space Exploration History was scheduled to be made.
The da Vinci Project was an entrant in the race for the Ansari X Prize, which offered a $10 000 000 (U.S) prize (along with a trophy!) for the first non-governmental agency to launch a reuseable manned spacecraft into space twice within a two week period. Twenty-six teams registered for the prize, but only two got as far as filing flight plans, and setting launch dates.
Brian Feeney was the driving force behind the da Vinci Project, and also planned on being the first traveller on a privately owned rocket. The design of Feeney’s craft “Wildfire” was in part inspired by The Millenium Falcon from Star Wars, and Feeney’s uniform included a space-flown Cosmonaut’s helmet from The Soviet Union’s 1960’s space program. His major sponsor was an online gaming company, whose half million dollar sponsorship ensured the right to place their logo on Wildfire’s nose cone.
Feeney’s plan was to have Wildfire lifted by the world’s largest helium balloon to an altitude of 24 400 meters (80 000 feet) and at that point the liquid oxygen / kerosene rocket would be ignited, and Feeney and his craft would rise to the edge of space (about 100 km), Once the fuel was spent, the rocket would float gently down to Earth suspended from a ballute. (A ballute is basically a combination balloon / parachute; the concept is used in the movie, "2010: The Year We Make Contact")
Kindersley was chosen as the launch site, partially because of the attributes of the airport and the town, which could accommodate such a world event, and partially because the proposed “flight path” would see the rocket’s flight and descent over a largely unpopulated area of Saskatchewan. The projected touchdown site was somewhere in a 50 km radius of a point east of Kyle.
The da Vinci Project’s main competition was Tier One, designed by Bert Rutan, and financed by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. Rutan’s group announced their first launch in the Mojave Desert for September 29, 2004, and Feeney’s group set their first launch for three days later. Important to note, the $10 000 000 prize (plus a trophy!) was to be awarded after a successful re-launch within two weeks.
The Kindersley Volunteer Fire Department put their plans in place, Souvenirs (from T-shirts to art prints) were produced, and volunteers were readied. The national print and television media did features on “Cape Kindersley”, as it was now being called. An addition (“Home of the Rocket Launch”) was made to the welcome signs outside town. As summer faded into fall, excitement mounted.
Shortly before the scheduled launch date, the da Vinci project announced a postponement. Meanwhile, in the Mojave Desert, the Tier One group successfully launched their craft into sub orbital flight on schedule, and upon a successful relaunch on October 4, 2004, was awarded the Ansari X prize. It was the 47th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the first satellite launched into Earth’s orbit.
Bert Rutan, teamed with Richard Branson in Virgin Galactic, continues to make space tourism a reality with flights from the Mojave Desert. Although Brian Feeney and the da Vinci Project still claim to be actively pursuing their dream of private space flight, the days of Cape Kindersley appear to be over.
Congratulations penguinshopper for FTF!
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