Confirmation has come in through thanks to the fact
that a Guinness World's Records rep was present at a USAF
radar tracking station near Edwards AFB.
The result?...AWESOME!!!
Peak altitude was JUST over 100 kilometers [62.4+ miles], and that inspite
of the fact that the SS1 rocket-motor shutdown a few seconds early....
It could have easily sent the vehicle up over 70 miles if all the fuel had been
expended....Makes the achievement that much more AWESOME!!! WOOOHOOO!!!....

THUS!....Mr. Melvill has become history's first non-government civilian astronaut-pilot.
The keyword is "pilot".....Mr. Tito, and a previous Japanese space-journalist were
only passengers onboard Soyuz spacecraft.

It's worth noting that the SS1 aerodynamic controls are NOT "fly-by-wire",
but similar to the stick and rudder controls used by Charles Lindbergh on his
historic flight in 1927.

By the way!...Since some of you are badmouthing CNN reporter Miles O'Brien...
Well think again! I've just found out that either Dick or Burt Rutan have offered
Mr. O'Brien a seat onboard one of the upcoming SS1 flights...Miles O'Brien, a pilot
in his own right [Cessna owner], has not said no.
If CNN his employer officially accepts the offer to have Mr. O'Brien as a PASSENGER
on opne of the upcoming SS1 suborbital flights, that will make him America's first
journalists to fly into space.

Jacob

"We choose to go to the moon, and do those OTHER THINGS, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
JOHN F KENNEDY