Ansari X Prize
The Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable crewed spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. It was modeled after early 20th-century aviation prizes, and aimed to spur development of low-cost spaceflight.
| Ansari X Prize | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | "build and launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface, twice within two weeks" |
| Country | Worldwide |
| Presented by | X PRIZE Foundation |
| Reward(s) | US$10 million |
| Last awarded | October 4, 2004 |
| Winner | Scaled Composites |
| Website | ansari.xprize.org |
| Part of a series on |
| Private spaceflight |
|---|
| Active companies |
| Active vehicles |
| Contracts and programs |
Created in May 1996 and initially called just the "X Prize", it was renamed the "Ansari X Prize" on May 6, 2004, following a multimillion-dollar donation from entrepreneurs Anousheh Ansari and Amir Ansari.
The prize was won on October 4, 2004, the 47th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch, by the Tier One project designed by Burt Rutan and financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, using the experimental spaceplane SpaceShipOne. $10 million was awarded to the winner, and more than $100 million was invested in new technologies in pursuit of the prize.
Several other X Prizes have since been announced by the X Prize Foundation, promoting further development in space exploration and other technological fields.