|
 |
|
|
This month, we are thrilled to feature the
winner of the Ansari X Prize, SpaceShipOne (also known as “The New Spirit of St. Louis”), on the cover of Commerce magazine. As Gregg Maryniak, executive director of the St. Louis-based
X Prize Foundation put it so well, “The worldwide excitement surrounding the first private manned spaceflight by SpaceShipOne holds special meaning for St. Louis.”
Indeed it does—which is exactly why after successfully completing two spaceflights, the SpaceShipOne team, led by legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan, and investor Paul Allen, received their $10 million X Prize award last month.
The Ansari X Prize competition was inspired by the Orteig Prize won by Charles Lindbergh. The “new race to space” challenged today’s best and brightest entrepreneurs to create a safe, reusable spaceship able to carry three individuals to an altitude of 62 miles, bring them safely back to earth and make the flight again within two weeks. Paralleling the history of the Lindbergh flight, SpaceShipOne prominently displayed the logo, “The New Spirit of St. Louis.”
The X Prize was announced under the Gateway Arch on Saturday, May 18, 1996.
Two months prior to the announcement,
St. Louis Science Center President Doug King, Bryan Cave Chairman Walter Metcalfe Jr., then Fleishman-Hillard Senior Vice President Al Kerth and I convened a special dinner at the Racquet Club, where the four of us brought together 75 regional business leaders to introduce the concept of the
X Prize Foundation, and the proposition of recruiting the Foundation to St. Louis, as well as enlisting them in this effort to recapture the Spirit of St. Louis and rekindle the legacy of Charles Lindbergh.
The dinner also served as an historical parallel to a similar gathering at the very same Racquet Club in 1927, attended by my predecessor, Harold Bixby, president of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce. Bixby and a group of 10 area business leaders met to propose St. Louis area businesses underwrite Lindbergh’s adventure with $15,000. In return, the Chamber asked Lindbergh to name his plane, “Spirit of St. Louis.”
Just as Lindbergh and his contemporaries launched the creation of the commercial air travel industry, so the X Prize represents “The New Spirit of St. Louis.” Korte Construction President Ralph Korte was the first to write a check for the effort, followed by other visionary leaders as members of The New Spirit of St. Louis Committee, including Enterprise Rent-A-Car Chairman Andy Taylor; Harbour Group CEO Sam Fox; Washington University Chancellor-emeritus Dr. Bill Danforth; Walter Metcalfe Jr.; former Clayton Mayor and current Iota Group Principal Hugh Scott; and Steve Schankman of Contemporary Group, along with the four of us who convened the effort.
There was extensive national and international media interest in the X Prize, with over five billion media impressions. CBS’
60 Minutes did an extensive feature on
Burt Rutan and the X Prize.
Congratulations to the members of the New Spirit of St. Louis Committee, X Prize Foundation Chairman Peter Diamandis and Gregg Maryniak, and test pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie.
RICHARD C.D. FLEMING
President and Chief Executive Officer
St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association
|
|
|
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
