I remember very well when he and Robert Crippen piloted the first Space Shuttle. I decided on that day that there were no braver men alive!
I see this sort of thing quite a bit, and it generally perplexes. When multi-millionaires and rock stars line up to buy a $20M ticket into orbit and space...when tourism now seems to be the only viable economic return on all this exploration...when thousands of poorer folks would line up for the privilege, but couldn't afford it...Wither "courage"--how is it so very brave?
It's a sad thing to watch the greying and stooping astronauts shambling anxiously behind Rutan, who practically bursts out of his flight jacket with sheer self-adoration...the old guys just want a whiff of that old Mission Perfume. Then Rutan gets up behind a podium and brags about how he's going to make "Sex in Space" tourism possible. Tom Wolfe should write a follow-up--Chuck Yeager becomes Sherman McCoy.
Makes me wonder what it was all about, Alfie.