2004 spaceshipone wins the ansari x prize for private spaceflight 10 04
View in full resolution: 3008 x 2000
2004 22 years ago Historical Events October 4

SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.

On October 4, in the year 2004, SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight. This event is recorded as a Historical Events event in the history of October 4, a notable event in this corner of history.

SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (2,000 mph) / 910 m/s (3,300 km/h) using a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique "feathering" atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folds 70 degrees upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increases drag while retaining stability. SpaceShipOne completed the first crewed private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mother ship 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.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on October 4, 2004 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Historical Events event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 1 Wikipedia article.
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 17 August 2026.

On This Date in History

Type Year Date Event
Notable Deaths 2024 Oct 4 Christopher Ciccone, American artist (born 1960)
Notable Deaths 2024 Oct 4 Billy Shaw, American football player (born 1938)
Notable Deaths 2022 Oct 4 Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 2020 Oct 4 Clark Middleton, American actor (born 1957)
Notable Deaths 2020 Oct 4 Kenzō Takada, Japanese-French fashion designer (born 1939)
Historical Events 2017 Oct 4 Joint Nigerien-American Special Forces are ambushed by Islamic State militants outside the village of Tongo Tongo.
Notable Deaths 2015 Oct 4 Dave Pike, American vibraphone player and songwriter (born 1938)
Notable Deaths 2015 Oct 4 Edida Nageswara Rao, Indian director and producer (born 1934)
Notable Deaths 2015 Oct 4 Neal Walk, American basketball player (born 1948)
Notable Deaths 2014 Oct 4 Konrad Boehmer, German-Dutch composer and educator (born 1941)
Notable Deaths 2014 Oct 4 Hugo Carvana, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1937)
Notable Deaths 2014 Oct 4 Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager (born 1959)
Notable Deaths 2014 Oct 4 Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (born 1951)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 John Cloudsley-Thompson, Pakistani-English commander (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Ulric Cross, Trinidadian navigator, judge, and diplomat (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Akira Miyoshi, Japanese composer (born 1933)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Diana Nasution, Indonesian singer (born 1958)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (born 1911)
Notable Deaths 2013 Oct 4 Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2012 Oct 4 David Atkinson, Canadian actor and singer (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2012 Oct 4 Stan Mudenge, Zimbabwean historian and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1941)
Notable Deaths 2012 Oct 4 Tom Stannage, Australian footballer, historian, and academic (born 1944)
Notable Deaths 2011 Oct 4 Doris Belack, American actress (born 1926)
Historical Events 2010 Oct 4 The Ajka plant accident in Hungary releases a million cubic metres of liquid alumina sludge, killing nine, injuring…
Notable Deaths 2010 Oct 4 Norman Wisdom, English actor, comedian, and singer-songwriter (born 1915)
Notable Deaths 2009 Oct 4 Gerhard Kaufhold, German footballer (born 1928)
Notable Deaths 2009 Oct 4 Günther Rall, German general and pilot (born 1918)
Notable Deaths 2007 Oct 4 Qassem Al-Nasser, Jordanian general (born 1925)
Historical Events 2006 Oct 4 WikiLeaks is launched.
Notable Deaths 2005 Oct 4 Stanley K. Hathaway, American lawyer and politician, 40th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1924)
Notable Deaths 2004 Oct 4 Gordon Cooper, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (born 1927)
Historical Events 2003 Oct 4 The Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Israel kills twenty-one Israelis, both Jews and Arabs.
Notable Deaths 2003 Oct 4 Sid McMath, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Arkansas (born 1912)
Notable Deaths 2002 Oct 4 André Delvaux, Belgian-Spanish director and screenwriter (born 1926)
Historical Events 2001 Oct 4 Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes after being struck by an errant Ukrainian missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.
Notable Deaths 2001 Oct 4 Blaise Alexander, American race car driver (born 1976)
Notable Deaths 2001 Oct 4 John Collins, American guitarist (born 1913)
Notable Deaths 2001 Oct 4 Ahron Soloveichik, Russian rabbi and scholar (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2000 Oct 4 Yu Kuo-hwa, Chinese politician, 32nd Premier of the Republic of China (born 1914)
Notable Deaths 2000 Oct 4 Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 1999 Oct 4 Bernard Buffet, French painter and illustrator (born 1928)
Notable Deaths 1999 Oct 4 Art Farmer, American trumpet player and composer (born 1928)
Notable Deaths 1998 Oct 4 S. Arasaratnam, Sri Lankan historian and academic (born 1930)
Historical Events 1997 Oct 4 The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs in North Carolina.
Notable Births 1997 Oct 4 Rishabh Pant, Indian cricketer
Notable Births 1997 Oct 4 Yuju, South Korean singer
Notable Deaths 1997 Oct 4 Otto Ernst Remer, German general (born 1912)
Notable Deaths 1997 Oct 4 Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game designer, created the Game Boy (born 1941)
Notable Births 1996 Oct 4 Ella Balinska, English actress
Notable Births 1995 Oct 4 Jeonghan, South Korean singer

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

More on October 4

2006 wikileaks is launched
2006 20 years ago

WikiLeaks is launched.

WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other m…

WikiLeaks is launched.

Browse Further

📅 All events on October 4 📖 All events in 2004 🏷 More Historical Events events
0

Comments 0

Sign in to join the discussion.