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...success depends on Burt Rutan, a brilliant if iconoclastic aircraftmaker whose unconventional designs can be found in everything from Predator drones to do-it-yourself airplane kits. Rutan's $26 million SpaceShipOne proved in 2004 that a privately built vehicle could reach the edge of space and do it twice in five days safely. The plane, bankrolled by former Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, won the $10 million Ansari X Prize (sponsored by a foundation seeking radical breakthroughs in space travel) that year and removed, once and for all, what Carmack calls the "giggle factor" in private spaceflight. "This...
...Rutan formed the Spaceship Company--a Boeing for the new space age--with Virgin placing orders for the first 12 ships. Branson is betting $250 million just to get Virgin Galactic started. Rutan plans to build at least 40 spaceships and expects to be run ragged by other clients. "I know this is an interim step," says Rutan, 63. "Fifteen years from now, every kid will know he can go to orbit in his lifetime...
Round Trip Inventor: Burt Rutan Availability: Sorry, it's one of a kind To Learn More: globalflyer.com The nonstop, nonrefueling solo flight around the world is the last great milestone in the history of aviation. Or it was. On March 1 the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, designed by Burt Rutan (who also designed the first civilian spacecraft, SpaceShipOne), took off from an airfield in a small town in Kansas; 67 hr. 2 min. 38 sec. and 23,000 miles later, the aviation world had reached another milestone. GlobalFlyer is so light (at takeoff, its weight is 83% fuel) and so aerodynamic...
...Most Amazing Inventions of 2004 The fascinating success of Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne ["Coolest Inventions 2004," Dec. 6] opens a brilliantly lit pathway out of the gloom and disappointment in which man has been stranded since the Challenger and Columbia space-shuttle disasters. SpaceShipOne avoids using brutal force to leave Earth and re-enter the atmosphere, thereby minimizing risks to itself and its crew. SpaceShipOne works its way into space and is the most human-friendly space vehicle man has yet devised. Ashoka Weerakkody Colombo, Sri Lanka...
...With his innovative SpaceShipOne, Burt Rutan hit the ball not just out of the park but right out of the atmosphere. I was disappointed, however, that many of the creations you chose were impractical, half-baked ideas. Consider the Snow Boat, which is supposed to solve the problem of a snowmobile falling through broken ice by welding an aluminum boat around it. That's like making a safer motorcycle by carrying it in a U-Haul trailer. Admittedly, coolness is hard to define, but I never thought ridiculousness was an essential part of the concept. Dexter Ford Manhattan Beach, California...