spaceshipone is a vehicle built to travel to the lower limits of outer space. it completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. that same year, it won the us$10 million ansari x prize and has not flown since winning. it was carried high into the air by a specially designed plane named "white knight". both vehicles were built and flown by mojave aerospace ventures. this was a joint project between paul allen and scaled composites, burt rutan's flying machine company. allen provided the money to build and fly spaceshipone, about us$25 million.