> I don't know what the hell his problem is...
It's right there in the first sentence:
"... SpaceShipOne, designed, built and flown by American
private citizens ..."
This "London-based independent journalist" evidently
would have preferred that the prize be won by the
nationals of some other country.
And it could have been - the contest was open world-wide -
but it wasn't.
The ironic thing is that the SS1 success is both grand
and embarassing for the US. Yes, US citizens did it,
but they also did their whole program, with three
launches, for less than the incremental cost of one
Space Shuttle launch, and probably less than the
adjusted program costs of the X-15.
NASA could duplicate SS1 for 10 times the cost
This is why most of the space program should be turned over to private business. The government should not be involved much at all except for creating the overall goal. For example, we want a moon base? Offer a corporation a $10 billion prize for the first to create one that functions within certain parameters. Same with a mars mission. Turn it over to private business and entrepreneurs. Those that are willing to take some risks and think innovatively. Look, this is not a knock against NASA, it has done some great things, and continues to do so from time to time, however, being a bureaucratic mess, it is massively inefficient.
Look at SpaceShipOne, what an incredible success story, because they could make a business case for it, and they had innovators who were willing to take chances. I loved the Discovery Channel show on the program. When designing the ship they decided they needed some hand holds so Rutan sent an engineer to the junkyard to get some off of old cars "because they make some pretty good ones". NASA probably would have spent $1 million to put 10 engineers on it, do 100 tests and develop the most ergonomically perfect handhold ever designed, let alone whether it is necessary. Just put a $5 handhold on there!
> This "London-based independent journalist" evidently
would have preferred that the prize be won by the
nationals of some other country. And it could have been ...
Indeed. Several non-US groups are reasonably close, including Da Vinci of Canada. Personally I hope the Canadian Arrow team is successful. Of all the designs, theirs is the one that screams "rocketship" the loudest.
There was a time when European engineers and invetors in various countries WOULD compete with one another in making achievements. The philospohies they live by nowadays don't promote competition and invention.