SpaceShipOne has won the Ansari $10,000,000 X-Prize for the first commercially viable manned spacecraft!

MOJAVE, Calif. (Reuters) - SpaceShipOne, the world’s first privately funded manned spacecraft, on Monday reached space for the second time in less than a week to win a $10 million prize designed to spur commercial space travel.

The stubby, three-seat rocket plane hurtled to a height of 368,000 feet traveling at more than three times the speed of sound to reach space on the last of two flights required to win the Ansari X Prize.

“We are proud to announce that SpaceShipOne has made two flights to 100 kilometers (62 miles) and has won the Ansari X Prize,” Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize announced to reporters at Mojave airport.

Congratulations to Paul Allen, Burt Rutan, Brian Binnie, everyone at Mojave Aerospace Ventures, and anyone else who was involved in this historic flight. Welcome to the real space age!

Now, where’s the hotel that Richard Branson promised? He better get a move on if he plans to open in 2007!