[Leroy S. Mort]

Odd lookin' bird(s).

[Phsstpok]

Odd lookin' bird(s).

For Rutan that's par for the course. I love his work.

[WestPacSailor]

Odd lookin' bird(s).

LOL! I checked the wording on the x-prize...doesn't say nuthin' 'bout pretty.

[Iris7]

I look at those machines and get an inkling of Rutan's thought. Beautiful. I look at a feature for a few minutes, trying to get into Burt's head, and sometimes I see. Notice the X-1 shape, copied from the old .50 projectile noted for it's smooth transition to and from supersonic flow. Notice the lack of stress risers, even in the windows. Burt is getting ready to build a full fledged re-entry vehicle!

Spaceship One may be controllable on reentry with very slight movement of the hinging rear assembly, giving lift enough to fly at the edge of the atmosphere at 18,000 miles an hourwith those high cord wings, flying higher to avoid over heating and lower as speed drops, a Sanger "Antipodal Bomber" reentry, with none of this 3,500 degree reletively low altitude, high air turbulance reentry of the Shuttle!

[Iris7]

I look at those machines and get an inkling of Rutan's thought. Beautiful. I look at a feature for a few minutes, trying to get into Burt's head, and sometimes I see. Notice the X-1 shape, copied from the old .50 projectile noted for it's smooth transition to and from supersonic flow. Notice the lack of stress risers, even in the windows. Burt is getting ready to build a full fledged re-entry vehicle!

Spaceship One may be controllable on reentry with very slight movement of the hinging rear assembly, giving lift enough to fly at the edge of the atmosphere at 18,000 miles an hourwith those high cord wings, flying higher to avoid over heating and lower as speed drops, a Sanger "Antipodal Bomber" reentry, with none of this 3,500 degree reletively low altitude, high air turbulance reentry of the Shuttle!

And remember Zenit is ready to be launched by the six huge turbofans of a Antonov 225, way, way cheaper per ton than the Shuttle to LEO! We can do this now!