TIME Magazine names SpaceShipOne its 2004 Coolest Invention of the Year

Time Canada ^ | 11/22/04

[KevinDavis]

TORONTO, Nov. 21 /CNW/ - TIME Magazine has chosen SpaceShipOne - the first private manned spacecraft to fly to the edge of space and back - their 2004 Coolest Invention of the Year. The story can be found inside TIME's annual Coolest Inventions of the Year issue (dated November 29th, 2004, on newsstands tomorrow). TIME's Chris Taylor writes, "This year, more than four decades after Shepard's flight, only two Americans have made the jump into space from U.S. soil - both launched not by NASA but by Rutan's tiny company, known for build-your-own-airplane kits. Thanks to the backing of two starry- eyed billionaires, SpaceShipOne is set to become the first in a new line of space-tourism craft coming in 2007. 'It's a spaceship that fits in your two- car garage, and you can take it to space every other day,' says X Prize founder Peter Diamandis. 'That's pretty cool.' For solving the problems of suborbital flight and re-entry with ingenious design, for boldly going where NASA now fears to tread and returning without a scratch, but most of all for reigniting the moon-shot-era dream of zero-gravity for everyone, SpaceShipOne is TIME's Coolest Invention of 2004," concludes Taylor.

[KevinDavis]

Wow something good came from Time Magazine???

[KevinDavis]

[Darkwolf377]

Why do I have this feeling SpaceShip One will beat W for "Whatever of the Year"?

[KevinDavis]

I would have no problem with that..

[TitansAFC]

"All aboard!!!!"

[newagepublius]

Hats off to Burt Rutan. He had a dream, he sacrificed to achieve it, and he went to space WITHOUT the help of the federal government or with taxpayer money. Someone give this man a Nobel Prize, now!

[Michael Barnes]

Where did you get that pic?

[TitansAFC]

Just a random yahoo! search.

;-)

[Michael Barnes]

haha,,,That's "downtown" Mars, PA...About 10 miles from me...

[Dashing Dasher]

Burt ROCKS!

[Arkie2]

TIME's Chris Taylor writes, "This year, more than four decades after Shepard's flight, only two Americans have made the jump into space from U.S. soil -

What exactly does this sentence mean?

[Jackknife]

[Enlightiator]

Good choice. Sure, SpaceshipOne's achievements are a quantum leap that brings hope for economical space flight for all citizens. But will it take the world by fire, the way

Time's Great Invention of 2001

did? Only time will tell....

[Darkwolf377]

Janet Reno's parents return to claim her?

[Rebel_Ace]

"TIME's Chris Taylor writes, "This year, more than four decades after Shepard's flight, only two Americans have made the jump into space from U.S. soil -
What exactly does this sentence mean?"

It means that the ONLY Manned space flights launched from the U.S. in 2004 were the two X-Prize flights conducted by Rutan and his crew. Not NASA. Not the gub'mint. Privately funded flights.

[af_vet_rr]

What exactly does this sentence mean?

All other Americans launched into space in 2004 were launched by the Russians (NASA Astronauts).

I didn't catch it at first, but then I thought about it - the Shuttle is inoperative at this point. Rutan and Co. are the only Americans actively going into and out of space from U.S. soil (actually the only people period, that are going into and out of space from U.S. soil this year).