At the beginning of the twentieth century, prizes were offered to budding aviators to encourage them to develop powered flight. The aim of the Ansari X Prize was to do the same for space flight in the twenty-first century in the hope that it would eventually result in commercial space travel.

The X Prize offered $10 million to the first team who privately funded, built and launched a spacecraft that could carry three people 100km (62.5miles) above the Earth and return safely. The team would have to do this twice within two weeks to win the prize.

26 teams from seven countries took part in the competition over several years. The prize was awarded in November 2004 to Mojave Aerospace Ventures from California, USA.

The team, led by Burt Rutan, successfully flew their craft, SpaceShipOne, into space and back at on 29 September and 4 October 2004.