[true_blue_texican]

In retrospect, over forty years later Burt Rutan was only able to mimic the results of Alan Shepard's first flight.

He "may" have mimicked the RESULTS but he did NOT mimick the METHOD. It is the method that Rutan is criticizing NASA for. Technology has changed so drastically since 1969 that we can attain the "old" results with far better methods; that has to translate into faster, safer, cheaper, further, more....

[CWOJackson]

When you consider that Rutan had 40 years of innovative technological advances to draw upon and that's all he could accomplish, that's not very impressive.