EFIS-D10 Flies in SpaceShipOne!

On June 21, 2004, the Paul Allen/Scaled Composites team successfully made it to space with their SpaceShipOne! What is not known by most is that the SpaceShipOne had an EFIS-D10 on board serving as a backup flight information system.

Shortly after the conclusion of this historic flight, we learned that during the descent phase, pilot/astronaut Mike Melville broadcasted to everyone "Love the Dynon." We first heard this from someone at Scaled Composites and it was later confirmed by a homebuilder who witnessed history unfolding at the Mojave Desert.

Dynon Avionics is pleased to be a part of the Paul Allen/Scaled Composites team in the development of the first private manned space capability, as a supplier of our EFIS-D10. Scaled selected our EFIS-D10 product to enhance their goal of developing a safe space vehicle at the minimum possible flight operating cost. We look forward to furthering our participation that will lead to a new industry of affordable space tourism.

“The Dynon EFIS-D10 met our specifications and allowed us to meet our goals”, said Burt Rutan, at the event that demonstrated the emergence of privately developed, manned space flight capability.

So whether you're aspiring to take flight into outer space or not, Dynon continues to believe that down to earth prices combined with true value has no limits!

We extend our congratulations to the outstanding group of experimenters at Scaled Composites whose pioneering spirit and dreams of flight fuel our imaginations and inspire us to achieve our own dreams.

Watch a 3-minute video of one of the flights. Look closely and you'll see the EFIS-D10 in action!

Update - Jan 2005

Since the initial attempt in June, Scaled Composites went on to win the X-Prize and has received considerable media coverage. Of great interest to us was the article in the November issue of EAA's Sport Aviation. This informative piece written by Bud Davisson covers this remarkable spacecraft from a homebuilders perspective and includes a great picture of our EFIS-D10 on page 39. The picture published in this article (shown on the right), reveals the removable nose cone of the SpaceShipOne spacecraft. The EFIS-D10 can be seen hanging from the top.

We also received some additional photos directly from Scaled Composites (see below) that reveal additional detail of this installation. Anyone who has built a Long Eze will certainly see some resemblance here.

Clearly this machine was built purely for functionality and performance.

Dynon wishes to express its gratitude to Scaled Composites and the EAA for use of these photos