ST. LOUIS, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Mojave Aerospace Ventures has won the Ansari X Prize and has been presented with a $10 million prize in St. Louis, Mo.
The space race winners, lead by aviation pioneer Burt Rutan and billionaire Paul Allen, were presented with their prize Saturday at the St. Louis Science Center, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday.
Mojave was awarded the prize for sending astronauts Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie into space twice in one week, Sept. 29 and Oct. 4. The astronauts piloted SpaceShipOne, a privately designed rocket ship.
"All of you will have a chance to go to the stars," prize creator Peter Diamandis told the crowd in the stadium bleachers. "Know it in your heart, it's not an if - it's a when."
Rutan said he hopes to offer commercial space tours by the end of 2007.
