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"It's Mainly Just for Fun"
Reason Online ^
| 03/31/05
| Ted Balaker
Posted on 04/01/2005 4:41:58 PM PST by KevinDavis
Lots of hard work. Big burst of publicity. Lots of hard work. That's been the pattern for Burt Rutan.
He is the model of persistent performance, averaging more than one new aircraft design per year for over 30 years. Then, last October 4, Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites grabbed the world's attention. They became the first private operation to send a man into suborbital space twice within two weeks, using the same vehicle. Rutan and company nabbed the $10 million Ansari X-Prize, and proved that entrepreneurial creativity could extend beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Now it'll take more hard work—both scientific and political—to make space tourism a reality.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: rutan; scaled; space; xprize
To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; sionnsar; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; jimkress; ...
2
posted on
04/01/2005 4:43:16 PM PST
by
KevinDavis
(Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
To: KevinDavis
Please add me to the Space list. Thanks.
3
posted on
04/01/2005 5:01:01 PM PST
by
Truth29
To: Aeronaut
4
posted on
04/01/2005 6:03:39 PM PST
by
Squawk 8888
(End dependence on foreign oil- put a Slowpoke in your basement)
To: Squawk 8888; Tijeras_Slim; FireTrack; Pukin Dog; citabria; B Knotts; kilowhskey; cyphergirl; ...
5
posted on
04/02/2005 1:51:22 AM PST
by
Aeronaut
(I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things - Saint-Exupery)
To: KevinDavis
Thanks for the ping, I've been watching this guy since I was a kid and saw a flying magazine article on the EZ.
6
posted on
04/02/2005 4:26:22 AM PST
by
FireTrack
To: KevinDavis
Regulating scientific innovation out of existence is government's Job, Gosh Darnit..!!
7
posted on
04/02/2005 4:54:46 AM PST
by
Drammach
(Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
To: KevinDavis
I met him once....
I'm involved with a local aviation museum and he was a featured speaker at an event there. He is amazing. His ideas are so radical - he's on the cusp of art and science.
But...someone should mention that the lamb chops went out several decades ago.
8
posted on
04/02/2005 9:55:51 AM PST
by
Dashing Dasher
(Success doesn't "happen." It is organized, preempted, captured, by consecrated common sense.)
To: FireTrack
Me too. I was going to go to Cal Poly SLO just like him and go through Aero (got accepted) but I decided to change majors when I saw that not a single aero graduate managed to get a job in the field at the time.
9
posted on
04/03/2005 10:07:47 PM PDT
by
Kevin OMalley
(No, not Freeper#95235, Freeper #1165: Charter member, What Was My Login Club.)
To: Kevin OMalley
My barber is a Aero Eng ~ Sad but life goes on. Great to Burt is still hammering away. I'm curious about the advances of the "black" programs but imagine they are as bogged down as NASA. I guess automated systems are the future for both flight and exploration...
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