Space tourism dreams live on

On June 21, 2004, a rocket-powered vehicle called SpaceShipOne, designed by aviation legend Burt Rutan and funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, soared into clear skies above the Mojave Desert in California. As the first privately developed crewed vehicle to reach space, it was widely viewed as a harbinger of a new era when human spaceflight would be relatively commonplace and accessible.