“SpaceShipOne was a suborbital air-launched spaceplane that completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mothership was named “White Knight”. Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company. Allen provided the funding of approximately US$25 million”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A chase plane follows SpaceShipOne after it reached a height of 62 miles in the first non-governmental flight to leave the Earth's atmosphere on June 21, 2004 in Mojave, California. SpaceShipOne spacecraft was carried to a height of 50,000 by the twin-turbojet high-altitude research aircraft, “White Knight”, where it was launched for its final climb. The space effort was funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and headed by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan. (Photo by Jim Campbell-Pool/Getty Images)

A “Star Wars” superfan has brought the universe to his backyard. Amateur photographer Zahir Batin, from Selangor in Malaysia, added stormtroopers, X-wings and other famous sights to his native Tanjong Karang rice fields. The Malaysian snapper decided to combine his love for his hometown with his passion for the out-of-this-world space opera and, in particular, the toys. The amazing shots show TIE fighters on fire flying overhead and AT-AT walking tanks towering over tiny children, as well as Dark Side forces marching through the countryside. Here: a Nubian Royal Starship hovers over the Malaysian rice fields. (Photo by Zahir Batin/Mercury Press)

Horses from the Garrison Savannah, who are involved in celebrations today to mark 50 years of Independence, are washed in the sea first thing in the morning on December 1, 2016 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Prince Harry is visiting the Caribbean marking the 35th Anniversary of Independence in Antigua and Barbuda and the 50th Anniversary of Independence in Barbados and Guyana. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

A woman wearing her traditional headgear attends celebrations to mark the Gudi Padwa festival, the beginning of the New Year for Maharashtrians, in Mumbai, April 6, 2019. Gudi Padwa is the Hindu festival that falls on the first day of Chaitra month and marks the beginning of the Lunar Calendar, which dictates the dates for all Hindu festivals, also known as Panchang. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters)

A priest comforts one of the relatives of the victims, before a mass in their memory, as Lebanon marks one-year anniversary of Beirut port explosion, at the port in Beirut, Lebanon on August 4, 2021. United in grief and anger, families of the victims and other Lebanese came out into the streets of Beirut on Wednesday to demand accountability as banks, businesses and government offices shuttered to mark one year since the horrific explosion. (Photo by Aziz Taher/Reuters)

A Tibetan man stirs butter tea made for the arriving guest during the function organised to mark Losar or the Tibetan New Year at a Tibetan Refugee Camp in Lalitpur February 19, 2015. Tibetans across the world marked the arrival of the New Year with prayers and festivities. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

A girl with Russian national flags painted on her cheeks takes part in celebrations marking the first anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea, in central Simferopol March 16, 2015. Russia marks one year anniversary of annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula this week. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

People of pro-government groups, with Russian flags, dance marching through downtown Moscow to mark People's Unity Day, a public holiday, in Russia, on Tuesday, November 4, 2014. Russia marks National Unity Day on November 4 to celebrate the defeat of Polish invaders in 1612. (Photo by Ivan Sekretarev/AP Photo)