By Dr. David Whitehouse
BBC
A privately built manned spacecraft has reached a record altitude of 211,000ft (64km) over California on one of its final tests before officially entering space.
SpaceShipOne was built by aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan who hopes to win the Ansari X-prize of $10m (£5.7m) for the first private flight into space.
The craft has to reach an altitude of 329,000ft (100km) twice in three weeks to win - and is expected to do so next month.
Twenty-five other teams across the world are competing for the prize.
In an impressive demonstration over Mojave airport, SpaceShipOne and its carrier aircraft White Knight moved a step closer to claiming the X-prize when pilot Mike Melvill took the vehicle closer to space than any non-governmental craft has been.
Its 211,000ft (64km) altitude was twice as high as SpaceShipOne had been piloted to previously, and is within striking distance of the height required to claim the X-prize.
To win, that altitude - 329,000ft (100km), the official boundary of space - has to be reached twice in two-weeks by a three-man spacecraft.
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