Photo by Jim Koepnick WhiteKnightTwo over EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

Photo by Phil Weston The AirVenture crowd watches as WhiteKnightTwo makes it descent at OSH.

Photo by Abbey Haug WhiteKnightTwo arrives at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009 at 2:46 p.m. for its world public debut.

Photo by Phil High An F-16 of the U.S. Air Force flight demonstration team The Thunderbirds lifts off from EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009 Monday afternoon, en route to Nellis Air Force Base.

July 27, 2009 - Oshkosh, Wisconsin - WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), aka mother ship Eve, the launch vehicle for the first system designed to take civilian travelers beyond the earth's atmosphere, made a triumphant arrival at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009 at 2:46 p.m. for its world public debut.

Eve did a fly-by at about 2:38 p.m., in the sky the same time as the Ford Tri-Motor. Then it left the immediate area so a Thunderbird F-16 could take off and do a fly-by before it departed for Nellis Air Force Base. Moments later, Elvis, an Erickson S-64F Aircrane Helitanker, arrived and did a water drop demonstration.

Eve did not do any fly-bys before landing and stopping at AeroShell Square where it will now be towed onto the ramp.

The largest all-composite aircraft ever built, WK2 was developed by Mojave, California-based Scaled Composites, the company founded by Burt Rutan, in partnership with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

"This will be a major highlight of our event," said EAA President and AirVenture Chairman Tom Poberezny, before WK2's arrival. "Since the appearance of the X-Prize-winning WhiteKnight and SpaceShipOne at AirVenture four years ago, our members have eagerly awaited the next advancements from the Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites innovators."

Rutan, Scaled's chairman emeritus, credits the EAA fly-in with encouraging him to develop the space launch system.

"To get the kind of feedback we get here at Oshkosh was one of the ingredients that was important for me in making the decision that maybe I can build a spaceship," Rutan said. "Because without that interface, I wouldn't have had that strong feeling that this was something the masses really want to do. So my interface with Oshkosh dating back to 1971 was real important for me in having the courage to say, 'Listen, I can do this, and I'm going to go for it.'"

WK2 will be on display at AeroShell Square until its departure on Saturday.