“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)

Mr. Grindell Matthews with his latest invention, the new photographic gun which is the latest development in sky signs. 1933. It can throw a beam of light 15 miles into the sky. (Photo by Fox Photos)

“Photocillin is the pseudonym of Dr Andy Teo, physician and people photographer based in the Surrey/Hampshire borders near London in the UK. My style is about showing the beauty of people and the world in which they live in a retro-utopian way”. – Andy Teo. Photo: “Walking six feet tall”. (Photo by Photocillin)

Visitors run away as waves caused by a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of Qiantang River, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province August 13, 2014. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A young boy walks to his school bus on a foggy day in Dubai on March 14, 2024. (Photo by Chris Whiteoak/The National)

Getting it done. Felicity, an athlete at an amateur weightlifting competition in a small local gym. (Photo by Clinton Bradbury/Women in Sport Photo Action Awards 2021)

Dramatic thunder and lightning striking Portsmouth in Hampshire, South East England last night, July 9, 2023, captured from the Isle of Wight. (Photo by Jamie Russell/Bournemouth News)

Women walk next to soldiers in Surcubamba, Peru, Thursday, May 21, 2015. The Joint Command of the Peruvian Armed Forces organized a humanitarian mission to Surcubamba, where health care was provided to families from nearby villages in this region called VRAEM, the acronym for Valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro rivers, where sixty percent of Peru's cocaine originates. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)