The Ansari XPRIZE for Suborbital Spaceflight was the first prize from the foundation.
It successfully challenged teams to build private spaceships capable of carrying three people and fly two times within two weeks to open the space frontier.
The first part of the Ansari XPRIZE requirements was fulfilled by Mike Melvill on September 29, 2004 On SpaceShipOne, a spacecraft designed by Burt Rutan and financed by Paul Allen, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft.
On that ship, Melvill broke the 100-kilometer (62.5 mi) mark, internationally recognized as the boundary of outer space, winning the prize.
Brian Binnie completed the second part of the requirements on October 4, 2004.
As a result, US $10 million was awarded to the winner, but more than $100 million was invested in new technologies in pursuit of the prize.
Sir Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and others are reputed to be creating a personal spaceflight industry.

Awarding this first prize gave XPRIZE as much publicity as the winners themselves.
After the 2004 success there was ample media coverage to afford both Scaled Composites and XPRIZE additional support for them to expand and continue to pursue their aims.
Following this early success several other XPRIZES were announced that have yet to be awarded despite various attempts to meet the requirements.

The Ansari XPRIZE won the Space Foundation's Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award in 2005.
The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.
The Ansari XPRIZE for Suborbital Spaceflight was the first prize from the foundation. It successfully challenged teams to build private spaceships capable of carrying three people and fly two times within two weeks to open the space frontier. The first part of the Ansari XPRIZE requirements was fulfilled by Mike Melvill on September 29, 2004 On SpaceShipOne, a spacecraft designed by Burt Rutan and financed by Paul Allen, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft. On that ship, Melvill broke the 100-kilometer (62.5 mi) mark, internationally recognized as the boundary of outer space, winning the prize. Brian Binnie completed the second part of the requirements on October 4, 2004. As a result, US $10 million was awarded to the winner, but more than $100 million was invested in new technologies in pursuit of the prize. Sir Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and others are reputed to be creating a personal spaceflight industry.
Awarding this first prize gave XPRIZE as much publicity as the winners themselves. After the 2004 success there was ample media coverage to afford both Scaled Composites and XPRIZE additional support for them to expand and continue to pursue their aims. Following this early success several other XPRIZES were announced that have yet to be awarded despite various attempts to meet the requirements.
The Ansari XPRIZE won the Space Foundation's Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award in 2005. The award is given annually to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to public awareness of space programs.
X Prize Foundation