Editing Xprize Foundation (section)

====1996–2004 Ansari XPRIZE for Suborbital Spaceflight====
{{main|Ansari X Prize}}
[[File:SpaceShipOne test pilot Mike Melvill after the launch in pursuit of the Ansari X Prize on September 29, 2004.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Astronaut [[Mike Melvill]] after his award-winning September 29, 2004 spaceflight]]
The [[Ansari X PRIZE|Ansari XPRIZE]] for Suborbital Spaceflight was the first prize from the foundation. It successfully challenged teams to build private spaceships capable of carrying three people and fly two times within two weeks to open the space frontier. The first part of the Ansari XPRIZE requirements [[SpaceShipOne flight 15P|was fulfilled]] by [[Mike Melvill]] on September 29, 2004, On [[SpaceShipOne]], a spacecraft designed by [[Burt Rutan]] and financed by [[Paul Allen]], co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft. On that ship, Melvill broke the 100-kilometer (62.5&nbsp;mi) mark, internationally recognized as the boundary of [[outer space]]. [[Brian Binnie]] [[SpaceShipOne flight 17P|completed the second part]] of the requirements on October 4, 2004, winning the prize. As a result, US$10 million was awarded to the winner, but more than $100 million was invested in new technologies in pursuit of the prize.

Awarding this first prize gave XPRIZE as much publicity as the winners themselves. After the 2004 success there was ample media coverage to afford both Scaled Composites and XPRIZE additional support for them to expand and continue to pursue their aims. Following this early success several other XPRIZES were announced.

The Ansari XPRIZE won the [[Space Foundation]]'s [[Space Foundation#Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award|Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award]] in 2005. The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalspacesymposium.org/symposium-awards |title=Symposium Awards &#124; National Space Symposium |date=February 3, 2009 |access-date=January 31, 2012 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203060101/http://www.nationalspacesymposium.org/symposium-awards |archive-date=February 3, 2009 }}</ref>