Rutan Faults NASA on Apollo-Style Capsule

Associated Press ^ | 5/4/06 | ALICIA CHANG,

[anymouse]

LOS ANGELES - Maverick aerospace designer Burt Rutan on Thursday criticized NASA's decision to use an Apollo-style capsule to return to the moon, saying it "doesn't make any sense" to build a new generation of space vehicles using old technology.

The designer of SpaceShipOne said NASA's proposed crew exploration vehicle to replace the aging space shuttle fleet doesn't push the technical envelope needed to accomplish more complex future missions that might include manned flights to other planets and moons.

"I don't know what they're doing," said Rutan, referring to NASA. "It doesn't make any sense."

Rutan said there needs to be a technological breakthrough in spacecraft design that would make it affordable and safe to send humans anywhere in the solar system. But he said he doesn't know what that breakthrough will be.

"Usually the wacky people have the breakthrough. The smart people don't," Rutan told an audience at the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles.

NASA is planning to return astronauts to the moon by 2018 and eventually send them to Mars. Unlike previous lunar missions, the space agency is studying possible areas where it can set up a human outpost.

Two competing contractors, Lockheed Martin and a team of Northrop Grumman and Boeing, each have contracts to develop conceptual designs of the crew exploration vehicle. The vehicle, which will be shaped like an Apollo-era capsule, will launched atop a rocket and return to Earth by parachutes.

NASA is expected to name a winner to build the vehicle by August.

NASA spokesman Dean Acosta said the crew exploration vehicle is a "fiscally responsible" project that achieves the space agency's goal of returning to the moon within its budget constraint.

"If you want sexy, it will cost a lot more money," Acosta said.

Rutan is currently building a commercial version of SpaceShipOne, which made history in 2004 when it became the first privately financed manned rocket to reach space.

Virgin Galactic, a British space tourism company, plans to take tourists on suborbital spaceflights using Rutan-designed rocketplanes launched from a proposed spaceport in New Mexico.

Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn said Thursday the company is looking at possible future spaceports in the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Scotland or Sweden.

Virgin Galactic representatives recently visited Kiruna in northern Sweden to explore the possibility of launching suborbital flights that will allow passengers to see the Northern Lights, Whitehorn said.

Last summer, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and Rutan, president of Mojave-based Scaled Composites LLC, agreed to form The Spaceship Company to build and market spaceships and launcher planes, licensing technology from a company owned by billionaire Paul G. Allen, who financed SpaceShipOne.

___

On the Net:

Virgin Galactic: http://www.virgingalactic.com/en/

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/spacecraft/index.html

Scaled Composites: http:/http://www.scaled.com

[anymouse]

"I don't know what they're doing," said Rutan, referring to NASA. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Usually the wacky people have the breakthrough. The smart people don't," Rutan told an audience at the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles.

[anymouse]

Well Burt is certainly talking to the right people. NSS's ISDC is one of the biggest collections of wacky people outside of a DNC convention. Then again a large number of them are Democrats. :)

[SteveMcKing]

"... doesn't push the technical envelope needed to accomplish more complex future missions ..."

Because NASA's main mission is to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding to recruit future lobbyists who will bring in more funding.... for the greater, common good.

[Cyber Liberty]

The Spaceship Company?

[mowowie]

:)

[Doe Eyes]

Then again a large number of them are Democrats. :)

Thank God we can blame this on Democrats.

[newzjunkey]

Space PING.

[Thebaddog]

Burt has only achieved suborbital space travel which the US did FORTY YEARS AGO. Perhaps it would be wise to go back to what worked before your risked the lives of young astronauts for his vanities.

[anymouse]

space ping.

[CWOJackson]

Rutan makes some interesting aircraft, however, they've never been commercial production successes. I think Burt's a little out of his league with these comments.

[anymouse]

Yeah, that Apollo 1 crew just sailed on to the Moon. /sarcasm

And the Apollo 13 crew had a barrel of laughs on the Moon. /sarcasm

We could all be driving Corvairs and Pintos too, because just because a lot of money was spend building something in the past - ergo it must be the best way to build it again. /sarcasm

I guess there have not been any new technological breakthroughs in the past 30 years. /sarcasm

BTW, before you go tugging on Burt's cape, you better check his record of success verses the bureaucrats at NASA. Burt has designed, built, certified and flown more aircraft than most of the NASA bureaucrats have ever seen. And his safety record is a lot better than NASA's.

[LZ_Bayonet]

"Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars"

"Capsule me to the moon
And let me play among the stars"

"Fly" definitely sounds better - case closed!

[Constantine XIII]

So how many spacecraft have you designed?

How many worlds have you walked upon? :P

[anymouse]

NASA hasn't had any commercial success either.

Rutan's aircraft are flying all over the World, but the small aircraft market has been decimated by trial lawyers so only the deep pockets have significant productions ongoing.

If you want to measure Rutan's success ask any pilot that has flown one of his aircraft or go to the Oshkosh fly-in and walk around.

[CWOJackson]

"NASA hasn't had any commercial success either."

???? I guess you're not familiar with their satellite programs. As for small aircraft, sales have been doing very well. If you're referring to his Long EZ it's a kit plane that is indeed novel to fly but it can't compete with most small aircraft due to it's limited payload.

His aircraft are novelties, his design work unique but he's yet to translate any of them into a viable production level product.

[MediaAnalyst]

...yea, yea, yea. Sink the NASA manned space budget and all that money will go to the worthy scientists for "research". Dream on. That money is going to go down the same rat hole that the other 79% of the federal budget goes (I give the military a pass, as they do provide a necessary function).

It astounds me that people waste all this energy complaining about NASA just because they can't provide perfection on the shoestring budget that they've had ever since Apollo.

I do admire Rutan, his accomplishments have been remarkable. I've seen his hardware first-hand. But if I remember right, his first suborbital flight was nothing to write home about either. But NASA is a nice easy target that is prohibited by law from even making anything more than a token attempt to argue their case in the MSM, so let's all pile on, so we don't have to deal with our own miserable lives.

Feel better?

[anymouse]

So how many spacecraft have you designed? About a dozen. Next question.

How many worlds have you walked upon? :P

Only one*, but I'm working on improving my chances of greatly increasing my range. ;)

I could be a smart @$$ and say 3:
- the first world (USA),
- the old world (Europe) and
- the third world (Mexico).

[longtermmemmory]

If he is serious then he should design something.

I think we forget how very very very dangerous it is to go to the moon.

[anymouse]

I guess you haven't heard of the Beach Starship? It was a bit ahead of it's time and Beach dropped the ball in properly marketing it.

[operation clinton cleanup]

BTW, before you go tugging on Burt's cape, you better check his record of success verses the bureaucrats at NASA. Burt has designed, built, certified and flown more aircraft than most of the NASA bureaucrats have ever seen. And his safety record is a lot better than NASA's.

I would beg to differ with that. NASA built more X-planes than Burt ever scribbled down on paper. The safety record is apples and oranges. Kudos to Burt for his successes, but they are not comparable to NASA's achievements.